wylodmayer

Re: Points Equality

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever. I never liked Jubilee, but that could have something to do with the character being introduced at a time in the history of the X-Men that I mostly associate with dry heaves and a desire to stab Claremont to death with a pocket knife. On the other hand, I can honestly say that I think the way her character was written at the time betrayed even the barest loyalty to verisimilitude; the character's "personality" could only be called textured or even plausible in relation to Gambit, a character about as one-note and cardboard as they come. Her backstory was a pastiche of cliches that never seemed to actually impact any of the writing for the character, and she was blatantly introduced as a perky foil for Wolvie. Granted, a lot of characters serve narrative functions for more important characters, but it's actually, you know, good writing when those characters are compelling or at least interesting and believable in their own right. Jubilee, like so many other characters in comics, never seemed to be acting from genuine, authentic internal motivations so much as a meta-awareness of her own place in the title. I'd say I hated the character, but then it almost goes without saying that I've hated virtually everything about the X-Men since about the mid 80s.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever. I'm not going to question your criteria, or your conclusion, even, since I assumed this was a thread where we could all vent out spleens about various heroes in comics. However... Hard to judge the counterfactual and - given the state of current comics - not sure what it proves. I've stated before my opinions about why I think Superman is a great character, and anyone who's read them knows that to focus on the fact that he is powerful as a reason NOT to like him misses the point of those arguments rather completely. Not that I think they are decisive or even widely persuasive, just to say that pointing out the fact that "Superman is powerful" is probably talking past all of his fans. They can read. The know he's powerful. Clearly, they have some other reason for liking him, one which his being so powerful does not overthrow. Obviously, you're free to consider Superman lame. I just wanted to note that purusing that line of argument probably won't convince anyone who doesn't already agree with you.

Re: Points Equality I'm certainly with Trebuchet on this one, but I'll even go one further. My earlier comments about point disparity may have focused on combat, but I'm completely down with characters who have unequal capacity across the board, and even "useless" characters like Xander. Toss the notion of a combat useless character who has a few special and unduplicated skills right out the window - I'm willing to play a totally superfluous character. Because being helpful and being necessary aren't the same thing. Xander doesn't really have any skills the group can't do without, but he's always nice to have along. What if that Vampire he was keeping busy hadn't have been preoccupied? What if no one was there to give so-and-so a hand out of that pit? There's use in being just another warm body, especially when you're already outnumbered and fighting for the survival of the universe. And, just as a note for Checkmate, Xander and Giles are built on exactly the same template - the White Hat - in the Buffy RPG. Giles may have a few more ranks in Gettin' Medieval and some knowledge skills, but they are considered the same character type, and they are - in theory - "balanced" with regards to each other.

Re: Points Equality

Re: Your version of the Champions The one time I used them in a universe, Solitaire and Defender were killed and the characters hated Nightwing. The only other member on that team was Sapphire. I might have used Seeker, too, but I can't remember. That was actually a neat arc. It tied in with an arc that I mentioned over in "Need Stupid Ideas." The gist of it is that Solitaire got offed in a particularly gruesome way by a villain whom no one realized was a bad guy until, well, he killed Solitaire. The PCs eventually busted the guy, earning Defender's gratitude (and the right to list him as a Contact), but the Champions broke up over the tragedy, leaving the PCs as the default hero team of record in the city. Solitaire's sister, meanwhile, went berzerk, holding Defender personally responsible for not protecting her "naive" sister while she did her stupid "hero thing." Cowardly to the last, she was unwilling to confront him unless she had overwhelming force on her side, but she was aware that one of the PCs - who was apparently an angel of some sort - derived her powers from a set of rings, holy artifacts. Because of the way the things work, anyone who is duly entitled to bear them can use them; no Thor's hammer worthiness clause or anything. So she sets about figuring out the angel's Secret ID. She eventually does so, and gets close to the girl in question. Over time, she's eventually able to erode her confidence in being a hero, and eventually gets the PC to let her "hold" the rings for a time while she tries to decide whether she really wants the whole angel job. Well, the PC almost immediately reconsiders, but by then it's too late, and our bad guy, now with all her infernal powers AND the angelic ones the PC had, teleports Defender in his secret ID - sans armor - over to the Cloisters where she can kill him in style. I can't remember exactly how it happened, but everyone wound up there - I think one was patrolling near the Cloisters and actually caught what was happening on her Enhanced Senses, and the others got there in some convincing fashion. But after a long soliloquy, and a brief fight, she kills Defender. The arc got even more complex after that. It was weird. One of the PCs started wearing Defender's armor, at his dying request, so that the city wouldn't be without its most well known protector. Another PC, a pagan goddess, eventually resurrected Defender, which prompted a crisis of faith on his part. Etc. And oh, yeah, the reason everyone hated Nightwing was that I played him with all the arrogance of Batman, but falliable. He was right a lot of the time, and good at what he did, but he was a complete jerk and he could never acknowledge when he was wrong, which he was in a few crucial situations. Eventually the team's resident speedster tired of his lip and beat the ever-lovin' snot out of him.

Re: Mutant Detectors Mutant detectors have always bothered me. Maybe it was the fact that one enterprising player built a weapon that essentially fired very small automatons with enormous amounts of Flight, an Explosive Killing Attack, just enough INT, and Detect: Mutants. Sure, it only worked on mutant enemies, but man, did that every give me a bad time when there were mutant enemies. However, in one game I ran, I did use an explanation similar but not identical to novi's. Mutants didn't give off a particular kind of radiation... but, you know, they tended to be... odd. For instance, a mutant who had electrical powers often had an unusually strong bio electric field, and occasionally disrupted nearby magnetics. Not in a way that would be noticed, but the kind of thing that a trained scientist with the right tools might catch. Similarly, bricks often gave unusual density readings when scanned with radio waves or what have you. The bottom line is that my anti-mutant group could figure out if certain people were mutants, but they would have to target certain individuals and then, you know, do surveillance. They also started a huge blood drive type charity, and further infiltrated local clinics and all sorts of other places, where they started performing tests on blood samples. So, really, they had pretty good ways of finding mutants, but they weren't "walk around with a scanner" type ways. It was much more conspiracy-oriented.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever. Right on, assault. I'd rep you if I could. There've been plenty of stories about Superman losing his powers or going up against people who really can hurt him. His heroism is well established in that respect. And beyond that, there's more to heroism than running the risk of physical danger. There's moral heroism, the courage displayed by someone who has to face up to tough choices, to the limits of his abilities. The heroism of not succumbing to cynicism and a simplistic, short sighted approach to life. Read Paul Dini's Superman story illustrated by Alex Ross (the name escapes me) among many others (like Alan Moore's "For The Man Who Has Everything"). That's always been Superman's appeal. He didn't take off (as it were) as an icon until he became super-powerful, because as a super-powerful character, he had to be likewise portrayed as an intensely moral character. Whether this was a conscious choice by the writers or not, I don't know, but it was a smart one - the only way that people would be comfortable with someone of his immense power. Superman's real super power has always been his moral discernment, and the real drama of the character is not in his struggles with villains, but (when well written) in struggles to do what needs to be done, to make the right choices, and to not lose faith and heart. To face evil while trying to remain not only a good guy, but still a clear-eyed, good hearted farm boy from Middle America. To be Superman. I honestly think that Miller's Batman, for this kind of reason, is one of the worst superheroes. Like assault said, Batman can be portrayed with depth and conscience, which is exactly the opposite of how Miller painted him. Don't get me wrong - Dark Knight is a gripping story, and I've read it more often than I can count. But in the final analysis, Batman is, in that comic, criminally self righteous, a fascistic narcissist whose confidence in his own moral purity borders on the villainous. I mean, Superman needs confidence in what he does, too, but he has the good grace to show doubt - that's the crux of the character. He's an enormously powerful being who is never totally sure that he - or any person - deserves that much power. He's always cautious about what he should do with that power. And what bothers him - and me - about Bruce is that the Dark Knight knows exactly how he would use that power. I think Batman can be well written, and he needn't be especially angst ridden to do it, although with his background it's sometimes unavoidable. I think "Hush" did a decent job of dealing with some of Batman's doubts, some of his concerns over who "the Batman" really is. It's too bad Miller never thought to write that story, because he would have written it much better. But I liked it, overall.

Re: DEX levels in your campaign. I dunno... there's nothing about a 15- throw for a defense that sucks, in my book. Sure, you Abort your action, but then you go first next time 'round, regardless of relative DEX, Lightning Reflexes or anything else. Bottom line, if the point is that it's better to have a higher DEX than not... well... again, "duh." I'm just pointing out that it's not some kind of death sentence. I mean, in the game I've been referencing, Ghost - the mentalist with Invisibility - got by just fine thanks with a 14 DEX. If the GM is doing his job and not inflating NPCs' DEX scores, then a moderate DEX, some skill levels, and smart use of tactics (Heaven forbid you should have to Abort or, you know, actually use the combat rules to your advantage - we wouldn't want players to have to do something other than Stand 'n' Swing) is all you really need.

Re: Looking for ideas for a "useless" power. Well, bear in mind that the ability to change the color of an object basically means the ability to change its permittivity and permeability to electromagnetic energy. It could be amusing if no one in your group is a physicist, and some kid with color powers shows up, only to be dismissed out of hand for having a "useless" power. Then, of course, when they run into him again, they realize that he can make objects transparent or reflective to, say, x-rays, or radio waves. Or he can give something complete absorbtivity to the entire spectrum, meaning it will get real hot, real fast. Or he can make something transparent to only radio waves. This makes a great practical joke - he can make your frozen burrito unmicrowaveable.

Re: DEX levels in your campaign. I maintain that CSLs and DEX are reasonably costed against each other. With Martial Maneuvers CSLs you get +1 OCV or DCV for 3 points, +1 that in both at once for 6; you pay 9 points to get +1 OCV and DCV just buying straight DEX. Sure it's limited application, but that's the point. Besides, going first isn't everything. For the amount that you spend on 23 DEX, you can buy 17 DEX and +4 Martial Maneuver levels and Martial Block; I abort to a block and I have a 4 pt advantage over you - I need a 15 or less! And I go first next time. Bottom line, I mean, of course you will come out less efficient if you're trying to do everything a higher DEX does through CSLs and Lightning Reflexes. I mean, duh. But the whole point is you don't always need to be able to do everything the higher DEX does. And, again, you won't always be allowed to, either. In my games, you don't just get to buy 23 DEX because you bloody well want it. If it ain't in your backstory, forget it. I think that game had two 14s, a 17, and one 23. No prob.

Re: Looking for ideas for a "useless" power. Well, I'd say Color Kid's power, but I actually made great use of this in the DC Heroes system (under the Blood of Heroes edition). All I had, aside from very slow Flight, was the power to alter the color of things. But, dude, you could Power Stunt other effects from base powers, and even then, things weren't defined by effect. If you had Matter Manipulation and turned something into a giant block of phosphorous, you don't have to buy or stunt a combustion power to set the room on fire. So, you know, I would occasionally blind people by giving a bunch of stuff around him a 100% reflectivity. I caused intense pain by temporarily turning the outer layer of skin completely transparent while outdoors under the bright sun. I disoriented people by turning everything in the room the same shade of grey with no relative contrast. I burned stuff by turning nearby billboards into giant lenses. Etc. It was fun.

Re: DEX levels in your campaign. I maintain that costing won't help the issue. If everyone has 23 DEX (because the GM allows it and/or keeps creating villains who have CVs which demand it) and DEX costs 5/pts per level instead of 3/pts per level, the "character tax" will only be worse. DEX is reasonably costed vis-a-vis CSLs and other stats, in my opinion. After that, it's down to GM control and restraint.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever. (also guilty) One of my earliest creations was a powered armor character. His name? "Tech." Ahem. Alas.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever. Hey, I use a character who's a cross between 80s Dazzler and the Olivia Newton John character from "Xanadu", called Disco Angel, in my superhero games as an NPC. I love her. I'd totally play her in a game. But you know, I remember Nightcat. Alas.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever. We have a player like that, although in his favor he knows he tends toward this and asks us to help him curb it. Me? I tend to play skilled normals with crippling personality disorders. My other favorite character is Color Kid. So, no... I've never really had that problem. Which is clearly not to say I don't have problems.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever. OMG! How could I have forgotten about that? Man, I hated that. That was the most inexcusable fanboy pandering I had ever seen. Not even a shred of respect for the character, for continuity, or for the intelligence of the readers. I loathe nimbo Psylocke. The era where she appeared marked the beginning of the end for X-Men specifically and Marvel generally, in my opinion. It's not coincidentally also the era where artists ruled the roost and writers were nobodys - some titles didn't even have a regular writer, although they sure as hell had regular artists. Then again, I've been "meh" on most Marvel comics (with the exception of Alias) since Jim Shooter quit being editor in chief. So, yeah, that dates me. PS - I saw something online which referred to the "X-Men" era (when the title just called "X-Men" came out), with the Blue and Gold teams, as the "Golden Age" of the X-Men. I threw up a little in my mouth.

Re: DEX levels in your campaign. It's funny, but I've never really had a DEX inflation issue. The key, I think, is strict GM control over concept and expenditures on one hand, and a very clear concept of the DEX scaling in my world on the other. For instance - I ran a Marvel game in HERO. Now, while DEX is quite subjective, I had a decent system worked out for determining how many combat skill levels people could be said to have. So I could get a really good idea of how much a boost people could get from CSLs, to a first approximation, at least. Thus, knowing that a cop (for instance) could get a total of +x from his skill levels and equipment, and knowing that the average cop had - stipulated - an average (10) DEX, I could easily derive the chances of that cop hitting any given DCV. From there it was just a matter of saying to myself, "how often would this concept get hit by someone like this," both on full defense (assuming a Dodge and maximization of his CSLs for defense) and on "balanced" CSL distribution. And that's not too hard, even when you're trying to match characters from comics - it's even easier when you're dealing with your own world. After that, it was easy. I had charts that players could look at, both to compare their own characters to NPCs as well as to see if they were over- or under-rating the effectiveness of the DEX levels they wanted to purchase. On their end, they could see exactly what DEX level they would need to have (x) chance of not getting hit in certain situations (I did up charts for cops, thugs, agents, soldiers, etc). On my end, I could say, "No, sorry, you can't have a 23 DEX on that concept. It's just not appropriate. You'll have to settle for a 20, at best." This also required control over CSLs. Because I had charts which laid out the expertise associated with having (x) number of CSLs available for use with any given attack(s), I likewise had to say on a number of occasions, "No, sorry, that's too many CSLs for that concept." The number of times I had to do this was reduced by the fact that the players had the charts available in advance of character creation and were advised to be realistic in character design. There's simply no substitute for GM preparedness. Ad hoc formulas and rules that are promulgated without real statisical understanding at back of them will wind up producing unintuitive, frustrating results for GMs and players alike. The simple fact of the matter is that HERO is open enough that GMs need to take responsibility and control expenditures. I mean, really. The rules allow me to build a device with a magic special effect... even if the world has no magic. There's no rule for the "no magic" thing. The GM has to enforce allowable special effects. It's not anything different with DEX. Know how much DEX your world's "agile" characters have. Don't let people who don't have the requisite backstory buy DEX in that range. Know how many CSLs an expert combatant in your world has. Don't let characters without the requisite backstory buy that many CSLs. Control all experience expenditure. Players do not have carte blanche to buy anything they want. This is no different than if the player said he wanted to use his xp to buy a contact with the President. The GM would say, "You've never even MET the President. You have NO reason to have that." Yet GMs will let players buy CSLs willy nilly, without ever stopping to say, "No, you may have been in a few fights, but you don't go from Stanley the Accountant to Bruce Lee because you managed to not die in four different fistfights. Doesn't happen." Players can only buy what you let them buy. "DEX Inflation" means the GM is not exercising sufficient control over, and possibly doesn't have a thorough enough understanding of, his campaign world. {I have my design documents for that game, still. If anyone wants to see them, just email me.}

Re: The cranky thread Actually, Alice, I'd like to see more teachers like you in the system. I'm getting tired of kids with no respect for authority. Which is kind of funny coming from someone with all kinds of bumper stickers along the lines of "Question your Government" and whatnot, but the general idea is that even if we're not going to take everything our leaders and authority figures say as the gospel truth, at least the kids coming up now can learn some manners. archermoo's dead on about that temporary cert thing. Different states call it different things, but the general gist is (and this is nearly universal in the US) if you have a major corresponding to a licensed area, you can get a waiver that lets you teach for up to three years while you complete the teacher requirements. For someone with no other qualifications, this usually amounts to about 18 semester hours of credit in teacher education. Some states, like Oklahoma, will accept field-related experience for some of this - so if you were a chemist, for instance, for four years, you would only need 6 semester hours of teacher training in addition to your degree.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever. Ooooooooo... Good point!

Re: Should I keep going with this article? Susano, I can't rep you for this yet, but I will, by jiminey. Well done. I know I'd like to see more of this article. Please, continue!

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever. Alas, Cable was not cool. Cable sucked donkey. Cable was the harbinger of an era of great suck in comics. However, Cable was also the product of an artist who only made pretensions to being a writer after he was given the store by Marvel execs who were so gooey-pantied over his (briefer than he'd have you believe) honeymoon period with the indiscriminate fandom. Cable was created with the express intent of looking cool and nothing else. So, he wound up looking preposterous, like a walking self-caricture. That's not far to fall from a character created with such low ambitions to begin with. No, no... I think that title more truly belongs to a pseudo-progenitor of Cable - Forge. Shaman-mutant-billionaire-special forces-inventor? Why does a man with a cyborg limb - that he designed - need a walking stick? Does not instill confidence in his designs if you ask me. Forge is far worse than Cable for having further to fall. As I've referred to him before, he was the embodiment of Claremont's wretched excess, a character who was intended, one supposes, to not only provide romantic drama for Storm but also to have angst over being a mutant (gasp!) who invents a mutant NEUTRALIZER (GASP!) that gets USED ON HIS GIRLFRIEND (gasp gasp gasp!). Oh the angst! He was emo before emo was coo... well, before emo existed, anyway. Except that he never came across as "complex" so much as "incredibly dense," not to mention horribly contrived. Any dramatic weight he might have had was siphoned away by the sheer obtrusiveness of his ad-hoc-ed origin story, that acquired new twists and turns whenever Claremont needed some more expository work done in whatever story he was writing at the moment. And of course his story arc with Storm fizzled out in the typical Claremontian non-denoument. Chris was undeniably well versed in the forms and structures of comics writing - he turned out some gripping stories. And during his partnership with Byrne, he became ambitious, looking to make his characters complex and to tell more nuanced, layered stories. And the man is extremely creative. But he's undisciplined. He can't see beyond the scene he's writing at the moment, so his story arcs - especially once he separated from Byrne, who's a jerk but a better writer (although less creative, ironically) - are uneven and tend to peter out in an unsatisfying "pffft" without anything being resolved. This affected all of his writing, but Forge is one of the most egregious examples. I'd like to give him credit for trying, with Forge, but I have to recognize that Cable more or less fulfilled his purpose for existing - to get gulliable fanboys with no subtlety to buy comics. Forge failed roundly in every way. Even Buscema's fantastic pencils couldn't save the character - he looked like a seventies porn star, with the 'stache and everything. Wow. Forge. Sheesh.

Re: WWYCD: the times of peace are upon us Ace is a private detective anyway; cheating spouses and runaway teens aren't a problem that's going away. Holocaust would be depressed. She's a mathematical genius, sure, but she secretly liked being a superhero - it made her feel good about herself, which is something she has a hard time doing, most days. Cat most fought street gangs and corrupt cops - again, not a worry of those fading away. Terminaxx would be out there hunting down the last of the troublemakers.