GaryB

Re: Brighton Hollow woes I ended up not avoiding the subject. Instead, I took a purely acedemic view of it based on several articles found online. The pre-generated player character for the story remains unchanged, but is a very dynamic character with great potential. The description is brief, but to the point: " Slavery in the era of 1778 was still a very potent business for many large land owners and some small business owners. The American-British colonies were nearly the last and largest consumers of the slave trade. By this time, many other countries had already banned slavery including Britain, which is why most escaped slaves who could make it, would join the British to fight the Revolutionaries. In Brighton Hollow, there is a single plantation belonging to a Lord Timothy Whitestone (rumored to be a supporter of the Revolutionaries) who does own perhaps three dozen slaves. Stories of the Whitestone Plantation say that while Whitestone is a kind high-born man to people, his slaves are treated indifferently. They are neither abused nor treated exceptionally well. They are treated mostly like one would treat a tool or a beast of burden. You take care of it as much as possible, yet there is no love between you and it."

Re: Who is... COUNT INFINITY? Count Grigory Bestev stepped into the cold chamber below his own castle. His breath escaped his mouth, forming a swirling wraith around his head in the cool air. He had inheireted the castle from his father's death. But something pulled him towards the secret passage that lead below, to the deep dark and frigid heart of his new home. It's not that the Bestev's ever used the palace, it was just a place they owned. And when his father died, Grigory was left this place while his brother had the main holdings. The place had been deserted for ages without any staff, and each passage looked like the one he travelled now. Why would he even agree to live here. His wife was happy to have a grand place to call thier home, rather than the smaller manor near Stalingraad they owned. But now, both her and his opinion changed about the place. He reached the end of the passage which terminated in what he could only describe as an ornately decorated iron wall. "This was meant for me", thought Grigory. Withou concious thought he placed his hand on the freezing surface of the wall and touched the center design which resembled a face constructed out of a swirling vortex. There was loud echoing thunk, and then the wall slid down. Metal on stone reverberated thoughout the passage. Grigory took two steps back away in shock. Light began to cast out in the dim passage he occupied. It was supplied by what was in the next room. Beyond the iron wall was a circular greystone room without any sort of decor. In the center, casting the light was a beam of some sort of illuminating energy. The cold didn't seem to affect Grigory anymore when his eyes fell upon it. "He left this for me. There is something I must do here", raced through his mind but he spoke it out loud. He stepped into the chamber and reached for the light. Grigory Bestev of 1845, Siberian Count was never seen again. At least not here. ------ He had seen everything though the energy. It was all laid out before him. He could see through time and space, all things large and small in the beat of a heart. But there was more beyond just that, there were other places, other tangets of his own world. He could see them as well. But they were infinate in number. He could not escape from where he had gone but he could watch. He turned his minds eye to his wife and looked upon her, hoping to call for her to help him. When he saw her, he reached out and called to her. She was with some other man that Grigory had never seen before. They were embraced and in the heat of a long passionate kiss. Rage built up and he broke through the barrier between the energy and the vision. In his rage, he slew the man. He questioned her on why she would do this. But she did not know who he was. Knowing that the energy beam was calling him back, he slew her in his anger and building madness. Now Grigory searches throughout infinity for his place, his time. Each time he enters another place, his mind slips a little more and disaster soon follows. Even through the beam he can reach out an influence events in any world so that he can control people. Just by moving a chair slightly to the left of where it sat, he ended up ripping a world to shreds through some fiery holocaust where men launched great machines into the sky and reign death upon those who stood against them. He watched both outcomes, one where the chair remained, and one where he had moved the chair. The sequence to him became almost comical. Yet, he could not find his place. His time. Perhaps he could find people or powers that would aid him. Now...where to find what he needs?

Re: Early Firearms I must have been tired. Thanks for the link. I had seen that one. However, I did another search doing a little change up on the word order I was using and found. http://www.silcom.com/~vikman/isles/scriptorium/firearm/firearm.html Which...is perfect since it describes them in order and has some comparisons. Thank you much though!

For the past week I have been researching early firearms. Everything from the earliest chinese armament to the 18th century. Largely it appears up until the early 19th century Flintlocks were the most widely used firearms. However, the only predecessors I could find out about just before flintlock weapons are matchlocks. However, I have found mentions and such of Wheellock and I am wondering what exactly was involved with these firearms? What were the differences between it and Match and Flintlock weapons?

Re: Horror Hero rant Since I love the horror genre, I'll share my views on how these things (IMO) could be run in HERO. Most people have to realize that in order to create a horror story, they must "adventurize" it. In many cases of horror stories, there is an inevitable terror that can really only be avoided and not defeated. This doesn't make for a good night of gaming. Such examples of this are movies and stories like "Final Destination", "The Ring", "The Grudge", "Christine", "It". While the stories have characters who are involved, the degree of fun a gaming session could have in such a setting is rather limited. This is where the GM would have to step in and add to the stories above. Make challenges for the characters to overcome somehow. "Adventurize" it. Let me take Final Destination where the chief villain is essentially the force of death itself. The kids in the movie have escaped Death's pre-set plan by some outside force. One of the character's picks up on the design by reading the signs around him. This leads to the escape of death and into the horror where Death begins to take out the survivors one by one because it had a plan. It's not to say a game couldn't handle this situation, it's just not that fun. For a game, you have to make it after the fact. At the end of the movie, three of the teens survive, but are still being lazily chased by death it seems (it's taking longer for Death to do stuff for some reason, this time around). What if the character who can see into "Death's Design" begins some strange cult of his own on how to avoid death. What would be the effects? What if death began to send agents into the world to start dealing with these interlopers who could see through it's design. This would make for a gaming session, direct conflict. Something tangible for the players to go up against, while still trying to avoid the direct power of death itself. Now as mentioned here, there are the Monster Horror films such as Tremmors, or Aracniphobia, Eight Legged Freaks, and a slew of horrible Sci-Fi produced Monster Survivor flicks. These make for some fun direct gaming session if the GM is good. Most people are afraid of unusual monsters and the like. Then you have Classic Monster films like Dracula, Frankenstein, Werewolves, The Curse of the Mummy, and even Creature from the Black Lagoon. While there is of course a direct threat in these films, if you ever watch them closely there are usually more than one or more people in the background mucking things up. For example, in Curse of the Mummy; Sure the mummy was at large, but who was the bad guy who woke the creature up and is trying to get people killed through use of the Mummy. Adding Mystery to a Horror story is one sure way to make things much better than having to face the monster directly. Slasher films/stories dont really make for good gaming. At least not on a one for one basis. In a gaming session, combats would be pretty one sided for the Slasher Monster vs a bunch of Teens who are running scared. However, you can turn these types of stories around. What if your players are instead a team of folks who dealt with these supernatural psychopaths who seem to come up out of the woodwork every so often. Each one has it's own pattern and method of killing, and perhaps a method to be killed that the team must find. Jason and Michael Myers were pretty good at what they did, but they seemed just too powerful for any challenge put before them. Now they have a team of people who dealt with this sort of thing. Ghosts/Hauntings. These can perhaps be the best types of Horror stories you can generate. There are limitless possibilities one can play around with. Anywhere from a Poltergeist scenario, The Fog, Ghost Story, or even something innocuous as Ghost Busters (in a less commedic sense - or not). Alien Terrors - See Monster Horror. Call of Ctuthu - This is classic story telling, and there is much more a GM can do with the works of Lovecraft than "Defeat the Cult" of the day. The background and resources of Lovecraft could warrant so many types of adventure apart from the Cult. For example, in the story of Dagon. What happened to all the people after Paul tried to burn himself and the rest of the cult to deny them his presence? There were survivors and Dagon was never defeated or thwarted. What would happen if the Cult's influence began to start popping up in popular culture and economics? A disease set on by the workings of Shub-Niggoroth or Nurgle, transforming many into horrors, including your characters. CoC should not be about directly confronting the terrors of the world, but also dealing with one's own horror and the sudden realization that the world is about to change around them. Gore Fests - In the Mouth of Madness, Hellraiser, and Event Horizon. If a GM couldn't run a good session with these materials then they should not be running horror. The biggest thing about these types of stories is description and atmosphere. How fast the world can change from the influence of the legions of hell decorating the world with limbs and the like. How do the characters fight such evils? One key thing that GM's and players need to keep in mind about Horror gaming is not to scare the players of the game, but to scare the characters in the game. You cannot run a horror game like a first person shooter. The most important thing the GM must do is get the right setting and atmosphere so that the characters can live and breathe in the world, and then realize the sinister purpose of the world they are about to enter. It is my firm belief that Horror characters need more background work from the players than most any other genre. The reason why they should be scared is to loose all that nifty stuff they just wrote about and made thier character care about. "I dont have any nightmares, I give them all to you!" - Steven King "My only horror comes from not being able to do my own taxes." - Clive Barker "The best horror for any character to experience is from something they truely love." - John Carpenter

As I am writing for the era of 1778, I am coming across in my writing several references to Slavery. This is an ugly subject and I am nearly at an impass as how to handle it. On one hand, I simply cannot ignore it. That just seems disrespectful somehow and simply wrong. On the otherhand, I cannot make it seem 'nice' or make it sunshine and flowers as seen in the movie 'The Patriot'. Very few slave owners, especially those on larger farms and plantations never associated or treated thier slaves with much respect or kindness. There is a character I have, a pre-generated PC character (or NPC if no one plays him) who is a slave. He is in of course what is a bad situation and gets involved in the story of Brighton Hollow because he was volunteered by his owner. However, I HAVE painted his owners as a kinder folk like Mel Gibson's character was in the Patriot. I'm just curious if I should just leave slavery out of the picture (pushing into the background) or make it more realistic, or whatever. How would you all handle this?

Re: Lupin III for HERO What I miss most about all the spawns of Lupin III is the laser disc game "Cliff Hanger". I wish they would release that to PC like they did Dragon's Lair and Space Ace. But back on subject...Lupin III would make for some HERO gaming honestly. [raise a glass to Anime HERO at some point].

Re: Brighton Hollow: Character Sample What? Edit what? Huh? Who? What this about something out of whack?

Re: Brighton Hollow: Character Sample What should have been there was mention of the Francescans and the Catholic Conversions of American Natives as a driving force throughout the years between the 1760's and and of course up till the 1830's...but...it doesn't seem to have any real bearing now.

Re: Brighton Hollow: Character Sample Correct! my mistake. 1803. Duh on me! Next I'll be adding in Lewis and Clarke as the true heroes of the Revolution! Yar! And then President Yeltsin will come down with his space cavalry and destroy the town. Dunno how or why I added that in. Will be corrected.

Re: Rifts HERO I'd give you mine, but after owning em for all these years they have become something of an amusing collection type of thing with some sentimental value (even though I'll probably never use them again).

Re: Rifts HERO Whoo hoo! Rifts players. Used to play it some time back. Was a play tester for Pantheons of the Megaverse (See credits for Gary Blauvelt). Used to work with Carlos at what was once basically a sweat shop of plus sized women's bathing suits. The picture wasn't pretty. All the Paladium writers are good folk, too bad thier system at the end of the day was way out of balance whack. Mostly you just played it for fun than mechanics. The Rifts universe has some GREAT background source material. Megadamage...forgettaboutit!

Brighton hollow is my four age campaign for Horror hero. This character exists within 1778 version of the campaign, now two years into the American Revolution where sides between folk are split between supporters of the Revolution and the Continental Army, versus the Tories who support British Rule and Law. Let me know what you think. FARALY ITHMIRE Val Char Cost Roll Notes 8 STR -2 11- Lift 75.8kg; 1 1/2d6 [1] 11 DEX 3 11- OCV: 4/DCV: 4 9 CON -2 11- 10 BODY 0 11- 15 INT 5 12- PER Roll 12- 12 EGO 4 11- ECV: 4 10 PRE 0 11- PRE Attack: 2d6 10 COM 0 11- 3 PD 1 Total: 3 PD (0 rPD) 2 ED 0 Total: 2 ED (0 rED) 2 SPD 0 Phases: 6, 12 4 REC 0 20 END 1 25 STUN 6 Total Characteristic Cost: 16 Movement: Running: 6"/12" Leaping: 1"/2" Swimming: 2"/4" Cost Powers END 5 Luck 1d6 Perks 3 Town Records: Access 1 Owed debt by bank: Favor 1 Reputation: Brilliant Man (A small to medium sized group) 11-, +1/+1d6 12 Contact: The Town Council (Contact has: useful Skills or resources, Good relationship with Contact), Organization Contact (x3) (12 Active Points) 11- Talents 3 Bump Of Direction Skills 4 KS: Brighton Hollow History 13- 4 CuK: Brighton Hollow Citizens (Past and Present) 13- 5 AK: Brighton Hollow and Surrounding areas 14- 3 KS: Cartography 12- 3 Deduction 12- 3 Trading 11- 5 Bureaucratics 12- 7 High Society 13- 3 Conversation 11- 1 Bribery 8- 1 Paramedics 8- 5 Cramming 1 Lip-reading 8- 2 TF: Carts & Carriages, Equines 4 Language: French (completely fluent; literate) 3 Language: Welsh (fluent conversation; literate) 2 Language: Portugese (fluent conversation; literate) (3 Active Points) 1 Language: Latin (basic conversation) 1 Language: Greek (basic conversation) 1 Language: Moneton Indian (basic conversation) Total Powers & Skill Cost: 84 Total Cost: 100 50+ Disadvantages 10 Psychological Limitation: Afraid of physical harm (Uncommon, Strong) 15 Psychological Limitation: Unrequited love for Venessa Lowman, Deeply in love but has never talked to her about it. (Common, Strong) 10 Psychological Limitation: Faints at the sight of blood. (Uncommon, Strong) 10 Rivalry: Romantic (with Avery Chearteux over Vennessa), Rival is As Powerful, Rival is a Player Character, Seek to Outdo, Embarrass, or Humiliate Rival, Rival Aware of Rivalry 5 Social Limitation: Public Official - Town Scribe. Cannot break the trust of people or lose position. (Occasionally, Minor) Total Disadvantage Points: 50 Background/History: This well educated man was born in 1735, and raised in Yorkshire, England. He was educated at Oxford starting at the age of 16 and viewed to be a prodigy of sorts. His family, the Ithmire’s is a well to-do shipping company owner with major routes throughout the British Colonies. However, Faraly would not inherit the family business, instead that would default to his older brother Edmund Ithmire. Faraly was married at the age of 22 and his wife Regina Wellington wanted to move to the new world. However, during thier trip to the Americas a storm hit the ship and she was lost along with most of the crew. The ship of course belonged to Edmund. The Wellington's, who were importers of gems and precious metals blamed Faraly for the loss of their daughter and in order to keep their business connected to the Ithmire Shippers an agreement was made to exile the poor tragic Faraly from any family claims. He would be forever trapped in the America's banned by the two family cartel of ever setting out to sea again. He spent many years in the Caribbean among the various British Colonies as a scribe to any governor who needed him. He even spent a great deal of years writing poetry and stories, but none of them ever worked out. So with the last of his money he sailed north to the mainland where the British were just finishing up the French and Indian War and the Catholics were in a fervor to convert as many natives as they could, as fast as they could; this new world would be an interesting place to write about. Into West Virginia he came and settled in at first as a teacher. But it was judged that he'd be better suited as Brighton Hollow's scribe and record keeper. Since then, he has quite settled in and never looked back to his old life. Personality/Motivation: Ever having to live in his brother's shadow in his younger years, Faraly likes his independant life amung the fine folk of Brighton Hollow. His passion lies in writing memoirs, fictional stories and even making new copies of the bible for the church through the newly purchased town printing press. More importantly he loves to talk to travelers to hear news of the world and any exciting adventures that have taken place. Recently, he took a trip to Richmond, Virginia to get news of how his brother and the company faired just out of curiosity. His two month stay there taught him two things. One, his brother was sick and possibly dying and without and heir to inherit the company (his wife had concieved a daughter who died at the age of five). The Wellingtons were trying to buy out the large shipping company but bidding was fierce and they may not win. However, legally Faraly would inherit the company if he stepped up. This specter haunts Faraly these days. Should the Wellingtons or any other competitors learn he still lives, he could be in trouble. But officially he was off the charts for the company. But the thought of some sort of large scale revenge against those who spurned him. It was all too fantastic for him to really take advantage of. He liked to write about intrigue, not live in the midst of it. Faraly is a supporter of British Rule and the old ways. He cannot conceive that a revolution is really even needed. He figures the British Empire will do what is best for her people, and this makes him a Tory. However, his views are forged from naivety rather than wisdom or thought. Its just that he doesn't care in the long run since its not all that exciting or adventurous for him to write about. Quote: "Words are the swords of writers. Even the most innocuous document can bring down an empire." Powers/Tactics: Faraly is no fighter. In fact, he abhors any sort of violence in his presence. Even the slightest argument tends to make him squirm. Conflict is not part of Faraly's life. Even during a tavern fight some years ago in the Caribbean, he passed out at the sight of a man loosing his teeth to the butt of a soldier's rifle. This does not make Faraly a coward, if it came down to it, he'd defend himself though it would probably be futile for him to do so without any sort of training. He prefers to watch, write and explore and stay out of the way of danger. Campaign Use: These days, Faraly has taken to fancy the brilliance of Vanessa Lowman, the town's school teacher. She like him was married at one point in her life but lost her husband to the French and Indian war. However, Faraly is now aware that her affections are being called out by a Mr. Avery Chearteux who is the town's chief Blacksmith. Faraly is hopelessly in love with her, but lacks the confidence to approach her. With Avery making his advances and courting her of late, Faraly feels lost. The two however are very good friends and talk often, its just that Faraly will never take it to a romantic level. Faraly must also be aware that his brother may die soon and that will bring a world of trouble his way should any of the competing bidders learn of his existence. Even if one of the bidding companies buy over the Ithmire Shipping Co., Faraly can legally reclaim the company at any time. Appearance: He always keeps a stately appearance in his near frontier town. He stands out much from the farmer community that is Brighton Hollow. He appears nothing like the rugged frontier folk, as he is gaunt and wiry. His composure is always stately and firmly bound in British formality. Height: 5’ 10†Eyes: Hazel Weight: 176lbs Hair: Brown/Grey Age: 43

Re: Horror HERO: Unofficial What Would You Like To See One thing I'd like to not see is a new stat to encompass fear or sanity. The HERO system as is, with PRE and EGO along with character disadvantages has enough mechanics to support roleplay and mechanics of the genre. I started myself writing a Horror HERO suppliment since 2006 is well...far away. However, I didn't want waste the effort if a more official document was being written...and even announced for 2006. So, I am instead writing a Horror Hero campaign book called Brighton Hollow. My setting takes place in four different time periods starting in the late 1700's and finishing up in 2005. The campaign is adjustable to use either skilled normals (50/50) or Heroic level heroes (75/75). The hardest part of it is not creating horrific monsters, but horrific challenges AND making the story at least adventurous and exciting. If you think about a horror story, the characters involved are mainly incidental. Usually they are only accidently involved in the story. It involves a few people vanishing or being killed and then they stumble onto a larger poicture. On top of that, the 'heroes', protagonists spend most of thier time dodging the horror and not getting killed rather than actually fighting it. So Brighton Hollow encompasses the Horror Mystery with Horror Adventure. It's main focus is to let players think the unimaginable powerful enemy sent by the devil himself is walking the earth and let them dive into the mystery surrounding the events as they see fit. Brighton Hollow will be chock full of details, character backgrounds and plot seeds for all four time lines, including plot seeds that carry from one time period to the next. I am currently working on character backgrounds for both pre-rolled characters and all the plot characters of the town. This includes letting characters make thier own characters and adding them in. It's quite a big puzzle to put together. ...Anyway. Back on subject. 1) Discuss the different types of horror stories. From Slasher to Deep Pyschological Horror, Ghost Stories, to Mysteries like the Movie "Brotherhood of the Wolf". 2) Roleplaying tips for both GM and players on how to interact with a horror story and make it intriguing for all. 3) How to create villains and effects for a horror story. And how to make the game more exciting without much direct combat (of course, this really depends on the type of horror game you are running). Of course, you can do the typical Zombie attack scenario, survival mode which would involve a lot of combat. 4) Special powers for gifted humans, including low level types of powers and senses that can be applicable to a horror story. Including talents or perks that can give character insight and background to connect them deeper into the story.

Re: Timestop You can drain speed down to 0, very poweful. Time manipulation powers suggestion. You can try, to do a megascaled drain vs Speed. Its not a one shot ability to kill speed, but it can slow time down over time. You can make it NND as suggested above. If this is an arch villain type power, you can make it very powerful, but generally unreliable so players have a chance. If you want to travel through time thats just Dimensional Movement with an adder. If you want to get multiples of your character from different times, use duplication with severe limitations and SFX if any are injured or killed. If you want to speed up time for yourself, use SPEED Aid or Characteristic SPEED as a power with END costs.

Re: When you charge the PCs END? You have to remember that when you negate the use of END in your game, either by trying to make things run faster or smoother even when you sometimes use Endurance that you are negating Advantages such as Reduced End and making limitations like Costs End, Extra Endurance, and even Charges worth way more than they are. Even when using it sometimes and other times kinda forgetting about it. It's just one of those nasty little things players should keep track of if people have the advantage or limitations in use.

Re: Equipment Pools?

Re: Low Men in Yellow Coats Sounds reasonable then. Thank you much.

Re: Low Men in Yellow Coats Ah yes. Low Men generally appear to those who dont know as non-descript humans with flashy loud clothes (thus yellow coats) and flashy loud cars. Now, if you see a low man without his 'disguise' he is something horrific alltogether, most notably the swirling always bleeding red hole in thier foreheads and the eyes rolled up and flickering. That is the Distinctive Feature Disadvantage, but is not directly apparent with the disguise up. The sensation of 'something wrong' with these men only tends to appear when they have thier illusion up. Otherwise, without it YOU KNOW something is wrong. So the sensation is not permanent like Distinctive features. I will note, it doesn't take anything special to sense them or break thier disguise. Just knowing about them tends to do it.

Re: Point/Power levels in your game Typically, a FH game consists of well rounded 150 point characters (75/75). But this depends on how heroic you want your characters to be. You could go as high as 200 points (100/100), but this requires greater challenges. I like to use the 30 Active Point power rule for Heroic level games, with a maximum of 10 rDEF in any category. 10 rDEF being very high, 5 rDEF being average. This seems to create a nice balance of power vs challenge. 1) I like running both, but time is not infinate for us mortals. 2) 200/150 for Supers, 75/75 for Heroic. 3) I like High Fantasy, Exotic Adventures and Horror Adventures the best. Currently running an Exotic Supers game.

My current Supers game is a strange campaign set in the Gunslinger/Dark Tower universe by Steven King(even if the player do not know it, or have read the source material). The premise is that while the adventures of Roland the last Gunslinger continue through the seven novels, these extraordinary characters are working through the wake of both Roland and the Crimson King's story. However, to represent the Low Men (the CK's primary henchmen) I am making them roughly 250pt characters (vs 350+ PC's). I am trying to decide, what is the best way to handle the Low Men's ability to hide themselves. Basically what it is, is they are covered by illusions to hide the fact that they are something otherworldly. Even thier fancy cars have this ability. It takes someone attuned to the way things work in order to correctly see through the disguise. For instance, once they have revealed thier true selves, you can pretty much spot them again and again without a problem. Even someone telling you about them will allow you to penetrate or attempt to penetrate the illusion. To those not attuned to thier existance, they carry a strange uneasy aura around them as you can almost feel there is just something not quite right about this. So. Is it best to use Shapeshift or Images? It's the ability to percieve through the illusion that makes it more difficult to pinpoint. The problem I find with images is that they are not so mobile and cover an area rather than the self. I would almost call it Shapeshift with a fringe if you will. Any opinions?

Re: Working in those unusual skills The most simple and effective way to use them, is to build scenarios around them as a GM. If the players have built a good character background and have actually purchased a decent set of skills, there should be no reason why a GM couldn't build off of this. For example: Yuri Kalisimov, born in the farmlands of far Russia (Kasikstan, whatever) had learned Chinese from the border crossing chinese mob. The mob had been let in, usually by the border patrols with payoffs making it easy for visits to corrupt the local population and bring in black market goods. Yuri's character sheet reflects: Language: Chinese, completely fluent and literate, Trading 11-, Bribery 12-. But also shows Hung Tu Mau clan as a hunted because in the end Yuri had to put a stop to this. Now a good GM with such a blessed player should have no problems getting Yuri's hunteds to use his Language. Even Trading and Bribery can be used against his hunteds. Of course, it goes beyond triggering hunteds. A GM must generally know the player's skills. Writing down a list of thier known ones throughout the group of players is a good start. When building a scenario, the GM can look at the list and find any appropriate skills. For instance, the Hung Tu Mau are getting into a position to buy off a one of a kind artifact from an auction. They themselves cannot steal it without raising an alarm and a general attack against them, so they prefer to use thier ill-gotten blood money (or counterfeit money) to make seemingly fair bids at the auction. There are a lot of skills a GM can possibly allow in his and must compensate for. Characters with Forgery and Computer skills can see where all thier money suddenly appeared from. Beaurocratics and even Bribery on the players part can influence officials to try and bar the Hung's presence from the auction. Trading would allow the characters to find a way to influence the auction in thier favor by bidding appropriately (if they have the cash). But even if all things are perfect, the GM should never be expected to mention the fact that thier skills could be handy here. The players paid the points for these skills, they should remember they have them and try to use them. The GM can only subtley clue the players in so many times, or even remember who has what skill so often before it becomes a chore for the GM. So mainly, the task is on the head of the GM. But the players must use thier heads about it. If the GM has done nothing more than, Dr. Finebottom is robbing the First Internation Bank of Wealthy Folk, "We must stop him" type of scenarios from game to game, it doesn't really manufacture the environment for players to use, want or even build thier characters with useful skills. A GM has to show and state that skills will be useful in his game before players can be talked into buying them. Just never forget to make it fun and intriuging for all your players. Just because one player has the useful skills doesn't mean you should ignore the combat-mongers in the scenario.

Re: [Would-Be Hero-GM]Lethality

Re: What do with a player ... Stay strong to what you want in your campaign. If you have a good story, it should always allow for adjustments made by your players own background story. You shouldn't force too much on them, but they shouldn't force too many things on you. You will have to compromise with your players. Secondly, many players are influenced by the characters they love from other sources (books, comics, TV). No matter what you do, no character concept will really be originally. HOWEVER! You and the player can make adjustments to the original source together, enough so that it is similiar but not the same. This can come in the package of special effects, costuming, and even the powers and skills taken. If they dont want to make adjustments or deviate in anyway from the source and compromise with you, then you many not want the player in the game. As a social game, you have to work together to make an agreeable environment for the both of you. In my campaigns, I always look at how and what characters people are making. If they just start spouting out powers they want and get into the crunching of making a character, I tell them I expect a VERY good character background to justify the character sheet. If on the other hand, they give me a character background and perhaps a light list of things the character might want to take, I am more leanient with how they can build thier character. When making a character from source material the player must deviate somewhere from the source. Either by the character sheet or the background story. If I am handed a character sheet that looks like Captain America, I expect to be handed a great background story about how this man is an android from an alternate dimension comprised of only men who are struggling to keep thier race alive. The android was sent to find acceptable volunteers to join him in the dimension. Given a shield for protection, he set out to complete his quest. Which is...nothing like Capt. America. Yes, it's a rediculous story, but it's not a man who was a super solider, changed to fight off the Nazi threat...and then frozen to meet modern day America and found the Avengers. Of course, this Capt. America clone would have to have a different costume as well, deviating as much as possible from the source. What should be more important to you and the player is the story. Story over statistics. If his statistics are pointing to the source material, his story had better fit into my universe.

Re: Invisible to Touch Group? Yes. I understand what the original post is stating. The book specifically states why Invis vs Touch should be built another way, I'm just...hypothetically...if I had to allow it, thats how I'd implement it. Desolid has it's own set of advantages, and even mechanics. Why can't Invis vs Touch work like I suggested? It doesn't simulate any other power really. Sure, you can lop a bunch of limitations of Desolid and produce the same thing, but why would you want to? I'm directly countering the statement made in the book about the subject (hypothetically), which is still on target with the thread. Why can't Invis vs Touch be built? People are looking at the application of Invis vs Touch wrongly. It seems to me that the angle people approach it as, is that the character is immune to being effected by the touch sense (ie: Feels like nothing is there), which would negate the sense of mass and girth (which Desolid does). Instead, I take if from the angle that mass and girth PLUS tangibility are still there. It doesn't really make them immune from being percieved by touch, it gives them instead certain advantages from being effected by touch that Desolid does not (at least without completely mashing down any usefulness Desolid has). Sure you can make Desolid vs Grabs Only. But it's all advantage there. And it forces people to buy Effects Desolid on strength or whatever grab maneuver in order to make an effective grab. Still an advantage since you are causing people to have the power advantage in place to effect them. But no disadvantage otherwise. With what I suggested, you are coupled with advantage and disadvantage for a particular situation. Grabbing. Sense powers, and powers that effect senses are a strange lot. Each one can almost be used to simulate another. For example, Images can still be used to hide the presence of a character as Invisibility could. But then again, so can shapeshifting. Whats the difference? The underlying mechanic. * Invisible vs Sight - Cannot target, imposes penalties outright to OCV even when people guess. Carries disadvantage of attacks not being invisible unless bought with a power advantage. * Images vs Sight - Perception rolls can be used to percieve the images as images and thus negating the advantage. Has a ranged advantage that can still be used around the player. Can't move the illusion without making a drastic change. * Shapeshift vs Sight - Can look like other objects or people. Breaking the effect takes a little more insight than Images, but perception can still break the shapeshift illusion. * Mental Illusions - Everything else but me exists. More like a single target sense modifier. Effects one person into ignoring you. Which is the best way to be invisible to sight? It depends on the mechanic you want to use. Now Vs. Touch we can: * Mental Illusions - You can't touch me. I am intangible. Breakout rolls negate the effect. * Shapeshift vs Touch - I feel like something else, perhaps nothing at all? Perception rolls can negate the effect. * Images vs Touch - I'm within my own illusion, yet you cannot feel me there. Perception rolls used to negate the effect. * Desolid - You plainly cannot touch me, unless you have a power advantage. And of course: * Invisible vs Touch - Your touch sense cannot register me. Can still be attacked and damaged without any particular advantage on the attackers part. What am I showing here? I think Invisibility vs Touch can be allowed despite what the book says. It looks like I can build it many different ways. But it depends on the underlying mechanic I want to use. Normally it would allow no particular advantage other than they cannot be percieved by the touch sense. If I had to make examples of Invisibility vs Touch, they would look similar to Desolid (Liquidy Form or Frictionless), but would have none of the advantages Desolid has and would still carry the disadvantage that the character cannot effect objects, nor could they go through them, or even through small cracks. They still have mass and size to contend with. Simply, the person cannot be perceived by the touch sense. No more than that. The frictionless thing, looking back at it seems silly now. Ugh...I go now.