Agemegos

Re: Super Names Sarin.

Re: Super Names Here are some names that I recall from my long-lost Champions-playing days. Black Lotus Bugbear Brahminy Kite Colonel Carnage The Green Ninja Hussar The Soulfire Samurai Staver Telekon Thunderchild Brahminy kite is a species of bird-or-prey (the character was a flying move-through specialist). The Green Ninja was an escaped sprite from a low-tech video game. Staer was a martial artist, Telekon a telekinetic, Colonel Carnage a battlesuit character with a large firearms VPP.

Re: Needed: Organizations! The Catholic Church- might be 'nothing other than the ghost of the Roman Empire, sitting enthroned on tomb thereof'. But it doesn't seem to be going away in a hurry. Perhaps someone could try exorcism?

Re: Needed: Organizations! The Economist- this newspaper has been being published continuously since September 1843, and still hasn't managed to convince any government to abolish all restrictions on and interferences with trade.

Re: Needed: Organizations! Democracy Unlimited-noting that tyranny is associated with oppression and poverty, Democracy Unlimited channels contributions and advisors from rich democratic planets to freedom fighters on poor tyrannised ones, and into a wide-spread public education propaganda movement (attempting to bring about reform by persuasion). In a few noteable cases, Democracy Unlimited has attempted to help revolutionary regimes construct functional free democracies in post-tyrannical circumstances. Results have been mixed.

Re: Needed: Organizations! The Sons of Patrick Henry- on planets where the tech level allows it but does not provide superior alternatives, the medical techniques developed to produce tissue-clone organs for synthetic-allograft replacement of limbs and organs are applied to the production of 'androids', with human or genetically-modified tissue grown over (usually) manufactured skeletons. By choosing compliant gene stock and applying appropriate conditioning, manufacturers can produce androis slaves willing to perform disgusting, degrading, demeaning, and dangerous duties for 'reasonable' pay. Where such androids have legal rights, they can often be genetically and/or psychologically engineered to waive them voluntarily. The Sons of Patrick Henry think this sucks. And they are prepared to fertilise the Tree of Liberty with its natural manure.

Re: Needed: Organizations! GreenWar- "an organisation for people who think that the only problem with GreenPeace is the 'Peace' bit". GreenWar is a broad, loosely-co-ordinated movement of campaigners against practices harmful to biospheres, especially complex ones. Its particular bête noir is terraformation, which according to GreenWar amounts to the deliberately induced mass extinction of autochthonous lifeforms, which is tantamount to mass-multiple genocide. Peaceful protest on remote and uninhabitable planets with no liner service is difficult and disappointingly inconspicuous, and GreenWar must depend on illegal sabotage. Nevertheless spokesfolk for the 'responsible leadership' insist that the organisation eschews all practices endangering human life. "There is terrorism associated with the anti-terraformation movement, but not by GreenWar, and not by anyone in its employ. Because it is bad for donations."

Re: Needed: Organizations! The Historical Institute is trying to compile a complete history of mankind, so it sends Observers to every planet it can. Sometimes it has to do so secretly. In general, the ethics of these observers require them not to interfere in any way, so that no regime will expel or persecute Observers. But there is one faction who maintain that in order to ensure that mankind continues to generate history, observers ought to interfere between humans and aliens, or even between humans and other humans backed by aliens, or against humans who are doing things that threaten the ability of Mankind ot generate continual history. To protect its observers, the Historical Institute keeps their identities and reports confidential (also the locations and even the existence of the planets they are working on): that way its observers are hard to persecute, and the interests of security and secrecy do not dictate than any regime try. So the Proceedings of the Historical Institute (which contain absolute goldmines of accumulated information) are available only to trusted senior members. Internally, the Institute is a hotbed of academic intrigue, with progress by demonstrating ability and objectivity and by winning savage Faculty Committee meetings. It is intensely rivalrous, and never was "Publish or Perish" a more a motto to live by. The Asutra series is set on a planet with low (but interesting) tech that is threatened by an alien invasion/biological warfare campaign. Fortunately, it has an Observer on it. Unfortunately, the existence of this planet is a secret that the Historical Institute does not intend to divulge to the interstellar community, on the grounds that once contacted it would be absorbed, and lose its distinctive character. The Interplanet Police Co-operation Company starts out as a clearinghouse for information (particularly about criminals on whom a bounty is offered), in a setting in which there is no or insufficient interstellar co-ordination of law enforcement. It members are mostly law enforcement officers (there are some bounty hunters) who get an opportunity to close cases and to obtain the information that will win them bounties in an environment lacking extradition procedures and official sources for interplanetary information. (That is in the Oikumene stage of Vance's main future.) It then develops into a bounty-hunter's collective, and finally (in theGaean Reach stage), into a quasi-official law enforcement body dealing with fugitives, interstellar crime, and areas without their own law enforcement. Niven and Pournelle don't give much detail on the workings of the Humanity League. We gather that it is a fairly powerful lobby group (championing 'human' and civil rights), and that it also takes a hand in disaster relief and perhaps other charitable works. Read the Vance. You really, really, ought to read the Demon Princes series, Planet of Adventure/Tschai series, Alastor "series", the first two books of the Cadwal Chronicles (Araminta Station and Ecce and Old Earth), and Emphyrio. And maybe The Gray Prince. And maybe Maske: Thaery. And maybe others. Jack Vance has been a very influential SF and fantasy writer for nearly fifty years, and his best stuff is very, very good. Some of his works (but not all) have a picaresque content and pyrotechnical writing, and aren't to everyone's taste (even though they have been immensely influential: if you are a fan of Anne McCaffery, read Vance's The Dragon Masters and compare its publication date witht eh first Pern novel). But the works I have recommended have a less perfervid style, and more likeable, better-drawn characters. Vance is call 'the master image-maker of English letters', and credited witht eh invention of the 'planetary romance' sub-genre of SF ('planetary romance' is a type of SF adventure story in which the peculiarities of a planetary culture are central to the story. He is an absolute genius at devising and concisely conveying bizarre but utterly logical societies. It you are going for a setting in which a collection of politically, socially, and culturally diverse planetary cultures exist under a loose federation you will get a million miles per gallon out of any time you spend reading Vance. I recommend The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, but not quite as enthusiastically as Vance. You might also like to try their Oath of Fealty as suggestive material for your campaign.

Re: How many points?

Re: Needed: Organizations! How about The Historical Institute as in Jack Vance's "Asutra" series. Or the Interplanet Police Co-operation Company as in Jack Vance's "Demon Princes" series. Or the Humanity League (a sort of Amnesty International cum International Committee of the Red Cross) as in Niven & Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye"

Re: How many points?

Re: How many points? Good analysis! Compare this character to a character who takes a real physical limitation, and is hindered by it until he saves up the points to buy it off. That character is in exactly the same situation as this one: he or she has extra points to spend now, and has an option to pay them back at some indefinite time. Except that he is hampered in some way that this character is not. Thus we see that this disadvantage is less of a problem than any disadvantage that is worth points. And so it must be worth zero or less. The 'or less' part of that conclusion is interesting. Because it points out that what this character is essentially doing is buy an option to have a radiation accident at some time in the future. If you are asking you GM to commit to allowing you a radiation accident, what you have is actually a perk: mystery power. So this is in fact a perk, not a disad. It costs points, though those points might be considered 'on deposit' towards your radiation accident.

Re: How many points? None. You want to save up for a radiation accident. I wouldn't give you points for doing something that you want to do anyway. Besides which, I think the diasad is fundamentally misconceived. You get disad points for something about the character qua person in the secondary world that inhibits him or her in some way. In this case there is no disad in the game world: the only 'disadvantage' is in your intentions for the character as a game object. As far as teh game world goes, your characer could learn a skill any time, is under no disadvantage, and gets no points. If you want to save up of a radiation accident you can do it like anyone else.

Re: What the well-dressed Inquisition-era Cardinal was wearing? Indeed. The daily or domestic dress was established in the 13th century (when it diverged from changing fashions for the laity), and stayed roughly the same until Vatican II (when the rules were relaxed, but the garments not abolished). The liturgical vestments have origins that are even older (and are now frozen in basically their Renaissance form).

Re: What the well-dressed Inquisition-era Cardinal was wearing? Well, of course it would depend. In performing a church service he would wear the vestments of a bishop, exept that his choir gown would be red instead of violet. At a king's court he might wear elaborate court robes. But his basic everyday dress would be a cassock, either red or black with red buttons and edging, With a wide red sash around his waist, a red zucchetto (skullcap), and maybe a red biretta or red clerical hat. And there is a sort of short shoulder-cape, or which I have forgotten the name. There are some pictures at http://members.ozemail.com.au/~acolyte/Roman%20Catholic%20Vestments/cassock.html

Re: Why does Nighthawk always get depicted getting the crap kicked out of him? Exactly as you say. When do we get a smiley with a fleck of bblood across its eye?

Re: Gaming "Outside the Box" Kudos! It is campaign planning like that that makes me want to crawl back under my rock. You are the fake-out king!

Re: Lady May Chiltren Indeed. I understand that corsets were first introduced by light cavalry officers, who wore them to provide body support and thus reduce the fatigue of heavy day's riding. (Light cavalry used to be responsible for scouting and patrolling, so they rode around more than heavy cavalry (who were shock troops)). Of course I expect that cavalry corsets were not as tight as the ones worn to winch a woman's waist from a healthy and attractive 24 inches down to a groteque seventeen.

Re: Lady May Chiltren

Re: Lady May Chiltren Never mind, I was teasing. The character has a BMI of 19, which matches her description. That is unhealthily thin and looks it, but it is where leading ladies and models aim at weighing. Penalties to REC, End, and athletic activity until she unties her corsets, I'd say. I'd make 'Tightly-corsetted' make a character unable to take recoveries until the corset was untied. That'll bring on the vapours.

Re: Steve, you dirty boy!

Re: Lady May Chiltren She's too thin. Take her comeliness and constitution down. Everyman skills are an 8-, not 11-, aren't they? A nanny is the servant hired to look after babies and infants. I think you mean 'governess'. I am impressed by 'corsetted' as physical limitation: that's ingenious.

Re: Your Gaming Group's Jargon "My extreme range is like a shield of steel" = I'm going to run away now. "Clunk" = a combat build in a modern 'heroic' setting, especially a James Bond 007 character with ST 14-15, Speed 3, Fire Combat and Hand-to-hand Combet PCSs of 25+, and maximised fame points, armed with a Ruger T-512 .22 LR target pistol. "Driver" a character build in a modern setting who specialised in vehicle combat (especially rewarding in James Bond 007 campaign). "Face-man"/"Face-woman" a character build expert in interpersonal interactions (especially rewarding in James Bond 007 campaign). "Cracker" a character build in a modern setting expert at breaking & entering, defeating security systems, opening safes, and usually surveillance and countersurveillance. "Standard Party" a team consisting of two clunks, one of whom is a faceman and the other a face-woman, one being a cracker and the other a driver. Especially rewarding in James Bond 007 adventures. "The Mike Hammer Gambit" if you have no real leads to go on, pick an NPC who seems to me connected to the plot and rough him or her up until her or she gives you a name. Then go to the person named and rough him or her up until her of she gives you a name. Lather, rinse, repeat. "The Quiller Gambit" if yo uhave no leads to go on, wander round doing conspicuously mysterious things, making cryptic references to the things you do know about, and generally acting like a player. Hope that the villains will reveal themselves by trying to kill or capture you, and rely on being more of a clunk than any NPC could possibly believe. "The James Bond Gambit" if you have no real leads to go on, allow yourself to be captured by the villains so that they will reveal their plans/secret base. "The Columbo Gambit" having no idea what is gong on, pick an NPC you don't like the look of and start needling them. If necessary, frame them. "Show [him/her] the paper trick" distract [an NPC] with conversation so that another PC can attack from surprise and from behind. "From behind, in the legs, after the day was done" Faced with an opponent who is too tough to take out in a fair fight, fight unfair. (This one is from the Mahabharata.)

Re: Generic Star Hero Galactic Map

"Ultimate" means 'last' 1. Recognise that your campaign has reached a triumphant conclusion. 2. Wrap up. 3. Start a new campaign in a different genre. Any other approach leads to an anti-climax. If the ultimate evil turns out not to have been ultimate after all you will undermine all of what has passed to date, and your current feeling of triumph, closure, and dramatic catharsis will turn to ashes.