Laundry Knight

Re: Revisiting TAUNT To "Haymaker" a taunt, it would need to be stated with an outrageous French accent.

Re: Strange Background Complications The campaign is an amalgamation golden age, silver age, and bronze age ideals, and I would like to avoid an X-Files type of anti-government paranoia. Apart from bureaucratic inefficiency people are mostly justified to trust the government. I am holding out the possibility of an occasional rogue cabal and the occasional implication that it can go all the way up, because I do not want to completely close myself off of those plot devices, but for the most part, I would want to save justified anti-government paranoid for a cyberpunk-style campaign should I try to run one.

Re: Strange Background Complications I do not have the money to invest in another genre, and besides, they are curious about trying other things.

Re: Strange Background Complications I'm not really sure if they would want to play precisely. They are long term D&D players who aren't used to creating characters where background develop is part of the mechanic; so, they through some terms at me, and now, I am trying to connect the dots in a fashion that won't wreck my campaign and would be fun to play for the players based on what I know about them personally. I've played with the time manipulator's player for over 20 years and have good bead on what kind of characters he like to play. He tends prefer characters that allow him to act as a nutcase. The other guy I have known less than half as long, and he has a history of creating characters with little internal cohesion; so, he is a little tougher to create for. Since this is their first rodeo with a game system like this one, I decided to go ahead and help them connect the dots by coming with suggestions I think they would enjoy and which they can veto, but before I make the suggestions, I want to make sure I can make it happen. If they like the system, I hope to have to do this less with any future characters they may want to make.

Re: Strange Background Complications For this, inexplicable feelings of deja vu for when the aliens sees something he/she recognizes or occasional feelings of disappointment and approval for the actions of the controlling characters, and periods of emotional confusion to express that the alien sometimes comes close to manifesting itself during periods of weakness. For background, he gave me very little to work with, but I am thinking of making him a disc jockey and a minor celebrity in his own time. He'd be a big talker and would know how to be cool (for the 70's). He would be in his mid-twenties. I am not sure about his family background. I'm the only one in the group who thinks about stuff like that for character creation. Declaring him dead is something I have not thought of. Mainly, I am thinking about what kind of troubles a character from that period would have trying to adapt to a world where cellphones and PCs are so ubiquitous no one really thinks about them, like someone from the old west trying to figure out toilets or something.

Re: [For Fun] The Rouge Gallery Name Game. Hammerhead The Pharoah Golem Master Mossman Red Ninja Coyote Electron Doctor Swift King Cloud

I am putting a game together and have two players lined. They both have interesting but strange backgrounds that I am having problems relating to appropriate complications. The first is a scientist who invented a suit that was supposed to allow him to allow him to cross into other dimensions, but it failed, and instead, it caused an extra-dimensional alien to meld to him granting him powers of the temporal field. I've thought about a hunted representing that the being may have enemies who want revenge or friends who would like to free him. I have also considered having the character plagued with sub-conscious manifestations. The Hunted is easy, but what is the best way to represent the second, and are there any other complications you would consider. The second was abducted by aliens in the early 1970s and received his powers through alien experimentation who recently released him from stasis. For him, I figure a Hunted: Watched by the aliens who are still interested in observing their test subject, and a Man Out of Time complication to represent the difficulty of adapting to the technological and social changes that would have occurred over that time.

Re: Conduct Codes Whether or not morals are objective in the real world opens up a huge can of philosophical worms, and if this were site dedicated to arguing philosophy, I would go deeper into the subject. I am willing to have a discussion on the issue via PM. Regarding objectivity of morality within a game world, that is up to the GM and how he wants to run his game, and what is or isn't objectively metaphysically (the discussion of morality is always within the metaphysical realm) is one of those things I try to keep in mind when creating. In a supers game, I tend to view things more objectively. While in cyberpunk, I take more a of a subjective approach.

Re: The bystander safety trope and your game I usually stay away from casualties caused by collateral damage in most campaigns unless endangering innocent lives are an important plot element in the adventure.

Re: [For Fun] The Rouge Gallery Name Game. Assuming these are characters made up by us. Rouge Rogue-It just had to be done. Emperor Obscuro The Odious Man Colonel Clogg Sergeant Slade Diamondback Chameleon Wyrm (assuming that consonants that can act as vowels still count.)

Re: Conduct Codes I think that is true as long as moral standards are classified as objective in nature rather then subjective. In other words, as long as the definitions of the terms are tightly maintained, ethical considerations will remain constant across the board. However, once individuals feel free to apply their own definitions to ethical terms, ethical decay will occur. Historically, when societies fall into ethical decline, it isn't the words that change. It is the definitions. Of course, how to handle this in a game would be a completely different question. I personally would allow a player a little wiggle room regarding his stated code of conduct relative to the points received by the conduct. If a player wants to be fairly loose with his definitions, I would only offer a small reward, and if a player wants to be very tight with his definitions, he should get a large reward. Of course, if his definitions are so loose that they cease to offer a complication, I wouldn't allow any reward.

Re: Conduct Codes Actually, a policeman or a soldier would not have a code vs killing. They would have a code vs murder. Murder being defined as an unjustified taking of life of another sentient being. Where disputes occur is when it comes to what qualifies as unjustified and who/what qualifies as sentient, and most, if not all, moral claims operate on similar scales. Superman would consider killing any sentient being for any reason as murder. A policeman or soldier would consider killing to protect society as justified and therefore not murder. A Southern slaveholding gentleman of the late 1700's to early 1800s would consider killing another gentleman in a proper dual as justified and not murder and would consider a black less than human and therefore would not consider killing a runaway slave as murder. Many vegetarians consider all living things to be sentient and most killings to be murder. In fact, most moral/ethical questions would follow similar sliding definitional scales. If you want to model that for a game system, you would need to include how broadly or narrowly does an individual define his terms. (For the record: It may sound like I am making an argument for moral relativism when in fact I am a moral objectivist. I am merely making arguments from what people believe rather than what is actually true.)

Re: Psychic Shock All those sounds better than my idea, but what I was going with was that someone was seeing something that was either so horrific or awesome they were unable to pay attention to anything else. Kind of like walking along seeing an attractive woman and almost walking into a sign post or someone so intent on watching TV they don't hear a word being said.

I have a player who wants to create time/space continuum manipulator, and he has in mind a power that opens a window into a random alternate dimension that is so far away from regular reality that it temporarily affects the viewer's capacity to react to the real world. I decided that this is best described as a psychic shock that acts as a flash against sight and hearing groups defended with DMCV to reflect that his mind is so confused that he is unable to pay attention to the world around him. I figure that since everyone automatically starts with some DCMV, shifting the defense to DCMV it would be a limitation and though upping DCMV is more expensive expensive than buy flash, there is nothing to say that Flash Defense could be bought in the form of Psychic Stability or something; so, I am think it should require a hefty limitation bonus, but I am not sure what hefty is. Would that be worth -1/2, -1, -1 1/2,...Any suggestions? I have also considered giving it a cone area of affect indicating that could affect anyone who is in position to see it, but that it was enough to figure out.

Re: I like Playing Bricks! Is that wrong? Look at many of the early mythological and literary were either bricks or had brick like qualities, Heracles/Hercules, Beowulf, Gilgamesh, Many of the Arthurian knights, and so on so forth; so, at worth, wanting to playing a brick is a cliche, but I like cliches.

Re: Fantasy Economies: How closely should we examine them? Actually, I am going through a similar exercise in the Supers campaign I am developing as I consider what the effects of decades of alien invasions and super scientists would have on the social and technological landscape of "modern" Earth, and I am envisioning a world that is advanced in regard to available manufacturing capacities but slightly retarded regarding style and outlook. In other words, they would be slightly more advanced in technology and slightly more old fashioned in culture with the idea that things would change so fast that most Earthlings would hold onto some ideas with an increased passion. I want a culture similar that is some where between the 30s and 50s minus the institutionalized racism.

Re: Infertile Half-Breeds? It would raise ethical and moral questions regarding interracial breeding, and as a result, only the most selfish and unscrupulous beings would consider it, IMO; consequently, there would be fewer half-elves and half-orcs, and those that do exist would suffer from higher rates of dysfunction than those in traditional fantasy settings. I would only consider doing that if I were wanting to run a dark fantasy and I was willing to do the extra work of considering the social consequences of so many mules. If I wanted to a more high fantasy or heroic fantasy, I would either disallow them completely or keep them as they are traditionally done. (Note: I am using race in more the biological rather than philosophical sense.)

Re: Speedster Pondering. I mainly know Wally from being the Kid Flash and as the post-Crisis Flash after most of the DC heroes were considerable nerfed; so, I can't speak much for him, but I think Bloodstone is right on when it comes to Barry and Jay. The Speed Force thing was a little after my time, and I was completely unimpressed by it when I heard of it.

Re: Ghostbusters Plus One thing is that rival ghostbusting companies of various competency and ethical levels to provide competition, and they may have likely to hire even more employees or open up franchises in other parts of the country and/or world.

Re: I like Playing Bricks! Is that wrong? I don't think it so strange. I've yet to play Champions and it looks like I won't unless I run, but I have developed favorite classes and archetypes in other systems I have played, and though I am subject to experimentation, there are still a few character concepts I prefer to return to. I prefer humble minded thinkers who aren't afraid of roughing it up should the need arise. Sometimes, it takes the form of strategic fighters, clever rogues, or wise spellcasters in fantasy campaigns. I prefer pilots, technicians, and scientists in sci-fi. In a d20 western game that mixed in fantasy elements (I can't recall the name), I preferred the maverick.

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team! William "Big Bill" McGowan was born large and strong and spent his whole life enhancing his strength and exploiting it to his own advantage. At first, he started out innocently enough as a professional weightlifter and bodybuilder until he was exposed for doping. Disgraced yet still obsessed with strength, he fell in with the Irish Mafia as a bodyguard and eventually as an extortionist. He loved his job but was still obsessed with strength and now easy wealth and personal power. One day, a super-hero called the Cardinal decided to give his mob a visit and managed to bring the entire family down. The only reason Big Bill escaped was because he was out of town doing on business. Without support or a steady income, he was desperate and heard word on the streets that a supervillain named the Odious Man was looking for henchman, and Big Bill decided to apply and was accepted. The Odious Man then gave Big Bill an offer he couldn't refuse. He offered to use genetic engineering to enhance his strength which Big Bill happily accepted. He went through the experiment which not only enhanced his strength to super-human proportions but allowed him to grow in height at will, and he used his power to aid the Odious Man in one of his many attempts to control the city which resulted in a battle with a super-team named the Regulators. At the climactic end of the battle, Big Bill was caught in an explosion caused by a stray hit to the Odious Man's death ray. Big Bill was presumed dead but was only badly injured and managed to escape once again. While recovering from his injuries, he had an epiphany. He should start his own mob, but to do that, he needed a plan and funding. For funding, he started hiring himself out as a mercenary to the highest bidder. With that funding, he met and hired other super-villainous mercenaries and hired them to form teams and unions and using stolen technology and additional funding he formed highly trained and armed mercenary units and expanded from there to this day. Now, he is the guy to go to if for arms deals, information gather, and contracting agents, assassins, and supers for illegal operations. He is even known to take on cases personally when it suits him. Recently, he had been contacted the Iron Duke to join the Council of Knives, and liking the idea, not only did Big Bill join. He devised a change in moniker in dedication to his new alliance and is now known as Claymore.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... I am a horrible punster. I would go with that angle if I were to think of it.

Re: GM vs Player narrative authority I guess we are missing the context and the history. Does the GM have a history of nerfing the players at every opportunity, or is the player a consummate munchkin and rules lawyers looking for every loophole he can? Is there some kind of personal feud between player and GM that boils into the game?

Re: Fantasy Economies: How closely should we examine them? Like said else where, economics is a tricky thing. If I deal with it all, I apply broad brush strokes. If I want a lot high magic that would almost be in parity with modern technology, then I raise the standard of living appropriately. If I don't want to portray a modern standard of living, I limit the amount of magic available in the campaign. Note: The presence of money would have a much lower effect on the standard of living than the availability of technology or it analogous replacement in magic. It doesn't how much or how little money you have if there isn't anything to buy, anyway.

Re: Superhero team Leader: PC or NPC? That must be a human thing and not a French thing. Either that or this part of America has a lot more in common with your part of France than I would suspect. Of course, the big question is how to best deal with that trend?