drnuncheon

Re: A Canadian Superman ?

Keep in mind nationality is not neccesarily the main factor in developing a character's personailty. It may define certain things (like what side he fights on in a war)' date=' but some thing are indpendent of nationality -- incluidng most fo the things that make Superman Superman.[/quote']

 

You're right, he's not the embodiment of the nation per se - but in some ways, he is. He was raised by the most average, even stereotypical middle-America couple you can imagine, especially for the time. They were decent folks and believers in all the things Superman stands for. The Kents are, in many ways, the idealized embodiment of America itself, and so the child they raised became that as well.

 

A Kal-El raised in another country, with different ideals and a different population, but in an analogous situation (raised by the classic stereotype) - well, that Kal is going to be raised very differently, and the adult Superman is going to turn out very different as well.

 

J

Re: Got my DC in mail today

Does the new DC contain any sample scenarios? Are they the same as the ones in the 4e DC or new ones?

J

running his players through the Bogeyman murders right now...

Re: What would your character do? #44 (May be disturbing to some)

Finally, one of these is a good "Dark Champs" type WWYCD, and since that's the style of my game, I'll guess what my players' answers would be.

Judgement runs a shelter for abused women and children. She's also a former assassin ressurrected as an angel of vengeance. I don't think she'd even give the guy a chance to szay there was no evidence before snapping his neck.

Ghost is an amnesiac mentalist trapped in a robotic body. I'm not entirely certain what he'd do, but I suspect the guy wouldn't be long for this world.

The Hispanic speedster Velocidad is the most four-color of them. I'm not sure he'd kill the guy, but he'd likely haul him off to the police. After that, it's his word against the other, but considering the fate of most child molestors in confinment, the guy might not make it to trial anyway.

J

Re: What would your character do #28

I find it fascinating that everyone assumed it was a warning of danger to their character, with the 'save the innocents' types bravely charging in anyway

For extra credit, what would your character do if it turned out that the warning was because charging in caused the deaths of the very innocents you were trying to save?

J

Re: Tell me about your GLC

I don't have such a group in mind. I want space to be more of a frontier.

Galaxy Rangers!

Re: Anime Gothic Western Hero?

Steven King's Dark Tower might be a help, too.

Re: Title for the next HERO villains book

Convicts, Cultists, & Criminals

Generals, Gangsters, & Gunmen

Hit Men, Henchmen & Heretics

Opponents, Overlords, & Outlaws

Traitors, Terrorists, & Thugs

Re: Superhumans pulling an Authority

or simply draft an office building full of flunkies to handle the petitions -- with the promise of summary execution if they're ever caught getting' date=' ahem, 'independent'.[/quote']

 

Hey, would you make a decision if you knew you'd be killed if the Authority disagreed with it? Me, I'd pass the buck. They're the ones that told me I wasn't competent enough to make these decisions in the first place...There has to be an appeal system, otherwise the buck is stopping somewhere other than with these megalomaniacs (and they wouldn't like that).

 

Hell, just the minutiae of dealing with the veto power over every governing body in the world...

 

What I actually think would happen is what happens everywhere else a dictator comes into power - they would attract a group of flunkies and hanger-ons that they could pawn this stuff off on - but then the flunkies would start abusing their power, and they'd either have to purge their goverment (causing mass chaos all over the globe as vital parts of the infrastructure are interrupted) or become exactly what they fought against. Their goals may be noble, but their methods would attract only the scum of the earth.

 

But, of course, if the DM is on their side, then nothing will stop them. All we can do is sit on the sidelines and point and laugh.

 

J

Re: Superhumans pulling an Authority

It occurs to me that the best way to defeat these guys is to let them win.

Completely.

I noticed in Wanderer's post several pages back they wanted things like veto power over any law - so give it to them. Kill them with it. Pass everything up the political food chain until it hits the top. Everything from international incidents to shoolyard disputes - because hey, we humans aren't capable of ruling ourselves.

Take no initiative, because if you do you might be wrong. Let the supers handle it, because they have said they can. And if they don't - it's protest time. The media has a field day with these people who, "despite their superpowers and ambitious plans cannot resolve a simple schoolyard dispute".

I give 'em about two weeks before they get sick of it and leave.

J

Re: Super Skills

According to Steve' date=' the HoJ isn't being toned down in power. He's losing the "teleport delivery gun subdimension" for a more normal gadget pool, but thats about it.[/quote']

 

Since that was the biggest thing separating him from a Dark Champions feel (the rest of the stuff isn't any more overboard than, say, Batman), I am pleased.

 

I may even stop referring to him as the 'Hamdinger of Justice'.

 

J

...but probably not. Even Bats had people making fun of his name.

Re: Super Skills

Gambling: Luck.

Poker Face: Mental Defense - you're so good at hiding your thoughts that even a mentalist can't get to them

Bluff: Mental Illusions damage shield? Your bluffs are so good they even fool telepaths.

Just One More Round: Transfer (Wealth or any powers based on possessions, one at a time), BOECV, Extra Time, Gestures, Incantations.

"What do you mean you lost our headquarters in a poker game?!"

"I was so sure my luck was going to turn around..."

J

Re: Martial Art Manoeuver Creation

Personally I'd like to see martial arts maneuver creation rules that come from (and balance with) the main power system. It always bugged me that you could do blasters, magic spells, superpowers, vehicles, and everything else with the same metasystem, but as soon as you get to booting people in the head, it becomes a whole different ball game.

Maybe for 6e...

J

Re: Ye Old "Hero is Hard" Debate

Yeah - but people like to buy the flavour rather than have the ability to build it - fast food equivalent of gaming!

Or perhaps just going out to a restaurant instead of cooking it yourself. After all, it lets you get to the eating with a whole lot less effort. 'Fast food' implies that it's inferior, and there are a number of great D&D games out there, as well as some crummy HERO games.

J

Re: Ye Old "Hero is Hard" Debate

I don't care about character creation time, honestly - that's all offline. The HERO speed problems that drive me bugnuts are the ones that happen during play: the Speed Chart, figuring out the best allocation of levels/Multipowers/VPPs, multi-power attacks - heck, even figuring to-hits in HERO takes longer than in d20. (It's negligible for one roll but when you're making a bunch of them it adds up...)

J

Re: It's all about willpower

I'd call it an Aid to any stat, one at a time (I know this used to be possible in 4th Ed, for I think +1/4), self only (-1/2), requires an EGO roll, possibly with side effects that occur after the AID is done.

J

Re: GMs, which character concepts did not make the cut in your game?

As regards the Superman EC i would not allow any character with alien race powers to get a cost break' date=' unless those powers were conected somehow. [/quote']

 

Right. I wouldn't give anything to a race that I wouldn't give to a regular character - so if the race has a silicon metabolism, I might give every member of that race EC: Stone Body, but if every member of the race has (say) telekinetic flight and poison fangs, they don't get a break.

 

J

Re: Help with a power

Minor Transform (Frozen in Time) seems to work except it only effects a single target.

 

Telekinesis works slightly except there are SFX issues plus the fact that other than a simple Grab it seems to fail plus again it is single target.

How about:

TK, area effect, whole targets only, only to freeze in place, based on ECV?

The last would be a custom version that forces you to break out using your EGO rather than your STR - at least, it would make marginally more sense for a strong-willed person to avoid the time stop than it would for Beefy Guy.

I think you need to define what you're looking for a little more clearly, though. What exactly can you or can't you do in the time-stopped state?

If you can't affect anything, then I'd say it was Teleport linked with Clairsentience with appropriate limitations.

If you can affect things, I'd be inclined to build it as a VPP, and then just make the powers based on the end effects. Freeze time and walk across the room? Teleport. Freeze time, walk up, and tie someone up? Entangle. Freeze time and go through the cards in his wallet? Clairsentience.

J

Re: Super Powers in Hudson City

Here's my theory:

The supervillains stay away because the Hamdinger of Justice is likely to shoot them in the head instead of just putting them in jail.

The superheroes go where the supervillains are. Otherwise they get bored. Er, I mean, otherwise nobody will be there to stop the supervillains.

So they both leave Hudson for the 'street level' guys.

J

Re: Fiddling With 6th - Skills (first of ??)

Well, let's look at whether the added complexity actually grants us anything. Let's say we've got a lock to pick.

Option 1 uses your suggested system, Option 2 uses stock HERO. The lock is difficult, so the picker takes a -3 to his roll.

1: "I've got a 12- in lockpicking, but I'm an Expert-level lockpicker, so I can ignore the -3, giving me a 12-."

2: "I've got a 15- in lockpicking, so I wind up with a 12-."

Hmm.

it is possible, using this skill system, to be both successful (the skill roll) and not all that great at it (the expertise level). Or vice versa.

I don't think I'm seeing the difference here, honestly - even in your JAGS system, a higher skill level has the same effect as a higher level of mastery. The only thing that you get that you couldn't with HERO is (say) a Master locksmith who is only capable of opening easy locks on a 12-, but he can open the toughest locks on a 12- as well. That doesn't make much sense to me, and you could do it with limited skill levels if you really wanted such an effect.

I think it's added complexity without added value.

J

In the game last night, we were looking for a way for a character with autofire to spray a bunch of shots in the hopes of hitting with one - essentially, trading potential hits for OCV bonuses. We couldn't find a rule for this, although several of us dimly remembered it, perhaps from a previous edition.

So - is there, or was there ever, a rule for this sort of thing (trading shots for accuracy)? How did it work?

Thanks!

Jeff

Re: End of an Era

Wow. A desperate last-ditch defense...if you're looking for some advice, read on, if not then just skip the rest of this post...

Do you have...

...a plan or a way to use the magic up before he can get to it? (An epic-size banishment spell would be about right - but if you're all mutants you may not have access to the powers you'd need.)

...a way to seal it off from him if (when) the demons overwhelm you? (You may wind up bringing the entire cave down on yourselves - and the demons.)

...or perhaps a way to destroy the pool? (What causes magic to pool in this area? Can you disrupt it?)

...a way you can hide, and then attempt to disrupt the ritual as Darius tries it?

Just some thoughts...it's OK to go down fighting, but it's even better if you win when you do it.

J

Re: End of an Era

Fifteen years. I can't even begin to comprehend a game that's lasted that long. I'm working on year three of my longest-running game ever, and already seeing where it's going to wrap up.

Wow.

I can only imagine how you feel. Knowing that it's all coming down to this, after so long. It sends chills up my spine that I haven't felt in a gaming story for...well, a long time.

I look forward to hearing what happens.

J

Re: Help w/a power

Basically' date=' after the (perceived) abuse of adjustment powers in 4e, they get hammered in 5e.[/quote']

 

Aha, I was rememebring how it worked in 4e. Good, glad I'm not smoking the bad stuff.

 

J

Re: Help w/a power

Wait...you divide the 'damage' among all the people, even though you don't do that for any other area effect power?

I thought that everyone in the area of effect lost (say) 14 active points, and the user got 14 active points total (but definitely not 14 active points from each target). If you applied Area Effect to a Drain, after all, you would drain each person of 14 points.

It seems to me that the current ruling is both inconsistent with the way everything else works in HERO, and unfair to the guy with the Transfer power.

Oh, and FYI:

then that problem is mute.

The problem is moot, not mute.

J (PsychLim: Corrects word usage, Common, Strong)

Re: M&M: this is a Nightmare?

I like M&M because it finally convinced my wife to run a supers game, where HERO was far too much with the points.

I like M&M because it runs quickly, even with inexperienced players.

I like M&M because I don't feel like I have to rack my brains for a dozen increasingly cheesy disadvantages just to bring me up to the campaign's power level - I can take one (or maybe two) important disads and leave the rest to roleplaying.

I like M&M because it's got a good mix of 'building blocks' for powers and classic premade powers (like a speedster running in circles to generate a whirlwind, as a stunt for Superspeed).

I like M&M because I think it's tagline is right: for me it is "the world's greatest superhero RPG".

I like HERO because it is the greatest RPG out there for 'tinkering'. It's the Linux of RPGs. You shouldn't be allowed to use it unless you know what you're doing, but if you do you can make it kick tail and take names.

I like HERO because making a character is as much of a game as actually playing it.

I like HERO because it is an effective hand-to-hand combat weapon - er, I mean, generic and multi-genre system - in a way that even GURPS does not really match. (Although GURPS sourcebooks are the greatest.)

I like HERO because I think it's tagline is right: for me, it is "the ultimate gamer's toolkit".