Kirby

Re: First Adventure Module need revision Hmm... lots of info, too much clutter for the mind... Okay, I calmed down. You seem to have more background info that adventure info. The main problem seems to be getting the heroes to the mansion. Do any of your heroes have mystical senses? Do any of them have DEMON as a hunted? A magic-themed hunted? Detective skills? If any of the first three, I'd use them to move those PCs into the direction of the Mansion. If one of the PCs has Detective Skills (and is either a detective in secret ID or is known for his Detective Skills), have a DNPC of maybe Crystal Phoenix ask said hero to search for CP. The dream sequences seam pretty heavy-handed to me, but considering this is a first run, it may be needed.

Re: Group Formation Schticks One of my favorites being a player in is the 4E VIPER source book. Basically several seeming unrelated minor activities that are related and brings people together. Minor alterations work for any team. One I've tried is an already existing superhero team to do a recruitment drive. Variances include the superhero team being kidnapped and the PCs investigate and join together (maybe the kidnapping was real, maybe a test). Or have the team have cancelled the recruitment, but the message was intercepted. When various heroes show up at the recruitment drive, a villain team ambushes them. If you have VOICE of Doom, that can be a great starter, if not, just have a low-powered hero team be assassinated one by one (once a week) and the hero team puts a call out for stalwart heroes to assist. Throw in some minor adventures (good ole bank robbery) in between. Maybe the "original" team is all killed, or maybe not. Make sure your villain team is filled with blood-thirsty killers, though. One other I ran, two of the PCs were related to the same NPC on a hero team, though they didn't know it. (It was the Protectors, one was Huntsman's cousin, the other his niece.) The Protectors helped them form their own team. (They eventually found out about each other's hero ID, but it was fun for them roleplaying the secrecy issue.) Lastly, always see if any of the players are willing to know each other before hand. This helps on the number of scenarios used to get people together, plus, if any PC has 10-15 points of wealth, they could start building a base.

Re: So I'm thinking of running a Western HERO scenario... Clean with high mortality rates? "Not gonna happen." After your first big fight, the PCs won't be eager to get into another one. When our group played Western Hero, we quickly learned how fatal gunfights and knife fights were. I really wouldn't use the 0 Body = Dead for any important PCs/NPCs. With less than a handful of people in town knowing paramedics, PCs won't be recovering any time soon. Even after a knife fight, a character will want to rest. And if you are built on 75 points, not many people will have more than 10 Body, much less 12. A RECOVERY of 10 will still take three days to recover 1 BODY. Without resistant defenses, rarely a person will take *only* one BODY, unless it's a fistfight. If you are worried about people "surviving" (perish the thought), encourage your PCs to buy skill levels.

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share you ideas! Would the flow of the current be considered running water for the vampire? I can just see his coffin being opened and his arms waving in front trying to ward off the ocean "I can't move! I can't move!" Oh, I see "salvage" and maybe they brought the vampire up on the ship? Hmm, very interesting. The vampire has to let someone live to pilot him back to land. Otherwise he's trapped (as I'm sure he couldn't pilot the ship himself). I think this idea could be very good for a one-on-one with the player & GM, as opposed to the whole group. Just my thoughts, though.

Re: one question... I think there have been some great suggestions, but I'll go ahead and add my opinion as well. What kind of game are you running? Can players be any type of character they want, or is it specific? Martial artists? Super agents? Normals? Are you the GM by chance, or another player? I can see where a brick, martial artist, gadgeteer, energy projector, and weapons expert all with 9d6 attacks could be monotonous. IF this is the case, my suggestion would be to start varying the abilities and damage. Have the brick spend his XP on STR & def, maybe the martial artist has to do skill levels or more maneuvers, the weapons expert armor piercing attacks, the gadgeteer buys more powers (maybe some that no players have) and the energy projector buys area effect powers. I like what others have suggested about taking time off and alternating GMs. In my last group, we only had two GMs and we'd run an adventure and then switched. This wasn't too bad, since we gamed once a week. However, in my group *before* this one, we gamed twice a week, Saturday's and Sunday's. Each night had it's own GM/DM and they'd run an adventure and rotate games. We had seven players, four of which ran games. Two players rotated GMing one night; two rotated the other. We each had between 1-3 games we'd run (nine total, divied up) and so we rarely got bored. I hope this helps. Take care.

Re: Weirdest Hero question yet

Re: What's the most useless supplement you'd actually like to see? December 17, 2003 Kept on ICE - a book of previous groups and characters that are no longer in the official setting (in other words, almost all my favorites). Groups such as The Seven Horsemen, VOICE, Protectors, Zodiac, Thunder and Lightning, the San Angelo setting; individuals like "Ack Ack" McCleary, Wraith, The Olympians, and others from Enemies for Hire and Allies. The Ultimate Location - this would be the book not only for generic settings (hotels, banks, bars,) but also various base designs for PCs as well as the bases of hero groups and villain groups. Supers International - instead of over-detailed locations books like "Kingdom of Champions," "Heroes to the North," and European Enemies, something more like the old "Enemies International" but with both good and bad guys who stick to their own country or geographical area as opposed to being known across the world. Why Be Normal - a third book on Normals, this one could be those actually used in the game, such as mayor of Millennium City, or any official super's DNPC, etc. +Actually, I'd like to see NPC normals written up with each hero/villain, such as was done in Enemies of San Angelo, I believe. Ancient Civilizations - as opposed to just Ancient Egypt, we could include Rome, Greece, Japan, China and perhaps "barbarian" groups such as Vikings, Goths, Huns, and MONGOLS! "How many boards would the Mongols hoard if the Mongol Horde got bored?" - Calvin and Hobbes

Re: Recombining Schizophrenia The only thing close to a "problem" is just the writing of twice the disads at 1/2 their normal value, and even that won't be too bad. Other than that, it just might be a bit cluttered with all the writing of the limitations for skills, but good organization and good perception can overcome that. Go ahead and write up your character and see if you can make sense out of it with Ghost-Angel's suggestions. If it works for you, then bingo! But if not, feel free to hollar back at us. Good luck.

Re: A Bathroom Yes, it is a bit strange. However, on the very rare occassions that I'd play an assassin-type character, I always made a point checking with the DM/GM on where the outhouses or baths were. Even the most paranoid characters don't relieve themselves in full plate in the middle of the night. (But that's what bodyguards are for.) I hope I get this right, but there is a true story from Japan during the Samurai era where a ninja had snuck into an enemy's bed chambers and hid under the toilet (no, not a ceramic seat with plumbing, the one that has a hole in the seat that drops a hundred feet in the castle) for three days waiting for the lord or daimyo to "go." When he did, the ninja assassinated him. How's that for sneaky?

Re: A Bathroom

Re: A Bathroom Wow, is this wacky or what? While it's good to see many people with a sense of humor about bathrooms, those of you who think you actually have to buy bathrooms are being very -dare I say it?- anal retentive on the issue. Things such as bathrooms, money, bedrooms, homes and so forth are all role-playing aspects, not game mechanical aspects. The "wealth" feature just helps with role-playing as well. For those of you whose charcters have vehicles, you don't have to buy fuel, oil, windshield wiper fluid or even fuzzy dice. It's all a "given." Enjoy it. (After all, when villains rob banks or demand millions of dollars "or else," it is not like any character is actually losing points if the villains get the money.) Now, having said that, I have two concepts regarding bathrooms and the such that I think add to the gaming experience. The first I'll start off with is in the base. If I run a game where the players create a base, I'll tell them they have to have at least one bathroom on any floor that has bedrooms/living quarters and at least one lavatory on each floor that doesn't have bedrooms. It does make sense and no one has ever complained about it. Another thing I do when the team is at the base (and the plot has yet to be revealed, or it is a "new day") is always require at least one, if not two (depending on team size) PCs to be in "vulnerable" or "unaware" positions, so-to-speak. Unless there's a good reason, someone needs to, sometime during the game, be using the restroom, in the shower, just watching tv, reading a book, in the kitchen, etc. I used to have a problem with every PC existing in only two spaces in a base: the work-out room and the monitoring room, and usually the latter. I GM-fiat forced them to socialize and act like real people would until they "got it" and did it for themselves. (And yes, this idea stems from a rude scene that happened to me.) The second concept I have is when you as the player are in a hostage situation in a building (say a bank) and you're in Secret ID and want to change. Well, I've discovered that if you're able to teleport or go desolid, it's easy to get lost in the crowd and change to Hero ID in the restrooms. Also, if you are outside of said building when something is going on and you have these powers (especially helpful if you have N-Ray vision), entering from the restrooms is great. There are no video surveillance cameras there and making a surprise attack from the restroom is like the Spanish Inquisition: NOBODY EXPECTS IT! Heh, heh. Well, at least not until you've pulled that trick on VIPER several times and they start preparing by having a back-up guy in there. So then I just phased through to the ladies' restroom instead or came up from behind the guy. (N-Ray & Desolid are great for sneak attacks.) Okay, how's that?

Re: Recombining Schizophrenia Heh, you have a dichotomy wrapped up in a conundrum. What an enigma! Okay, first, remember the difference between schizo & multiple personality that Bob pointed out, and this character does sound like the latter. From what I remember on this in my psychology class, if someone has multiple personalities, they usually have a minimum of three. If it seems like just two, the third is mostly dormant, yet is the one aware of the others. If it matters to you on the character, use this, if not, nix it. My suggestion is to go with the Multiform power giving the same physical stats and Int to each form, but changing Ego and Pre (and perhaps mental defense) as well as giving Cavalier combat skill levels. For disadvantages, I'd say PM has either an 8- or 11- (preferably the former) Accidental Change into Cavalier during intense situations and that Cavalier has either an 11- or 14- Accidental Change to PM due to lack of excitement or short period of calm. If you were going to do the third personality, I would suggest PM have an 8- Accidental Change roll for something like "a full day of no real threats" or "no intense action." If you want this on just one character sheet, I would buy skill levels and some skills with a limitation of "Cavalier only" with the modifier being -1/4 for 14- roll, -1/2 for 11- roll, and -1 for 8- roll, depending on the Accidental Change roll. (Still keeping it for psychological reasons.) Also, you could buy skills (Acrobatics) and some powers (Pre) in a package with the same "Cavalier only" limit. Finally, if you want just one character sheet, I'd say not worry about the third personality. I hope this helps. If you know whether you want 1 character sheet (don't do it!) or multiple character sheets (yes, Pinky!) we can probably help further.

Re: Recovery and Endurance logic I can't help you on where the numbers come from, but let's see if an example or two can clear things up for you. The biggest thing to start off with is to not confuse your Recovery (Rec) or Endurance (End) with an Endurance Reserve (ER). An ER is independent from your End and usually either applies to one power (say, mystical blast), or a group of related powers (FIRE! FIRE!). First example is comparing someone without an ER to someone who has it. Let's take two characters who have the same powers (FIRE! FIRE!), but one has an ER and the other doesn't. Both characters have flame powers dealing with flight, energy blasts & force fields. Fireman has no ER. If he walks, runs, or flys, the cost of End comes from his characteristics stats. Every post segmment 12 he gets a Rec to his End and Stun. But what if Fireman overexerted himself and pushed his Energy Blast once and now is low on End, and he was smacked very hard by the Ice Scream Man and is also low on Stun. Maybe on phase 12, he takes a Rec. This applies to his End & Stun on his characteristics. No one attacks him on phase 12 and when post-segment 12 Rec comes, he gets another Rec (as does everyone else). Wow! New turn and Fireman is feeling refreshed and ready to go! Pyrotech has an ER that applies only to his fire powers. If he walks or runs, his End spent comes from his characteristics. If he flies, the End comes from his ER. Every phase his force field is up and every energy blast fired, the End comes from his ER. Now, what if Pyrotech also pushed his Energy Blast and is getting low on End. Also, he was whacked by Ice Scream Man and is low on Stun. On phase 12, Pyrotech wants to take a Rec behind a building. When he takes his Rec, it applies to his CHARACTERISTICS of Stun and End; his ER *DOES NOT* get a recovery, so he's still hurting on End to shoot another Energy Blast. With an ER, it only gets a Rec during post-segment 12. Whatever the Rec on his ER is, that is how much End will come back - no Stun! (Note, though, that on p-s 12, Pyrotech still gets his *characteristic* Rec for his regular End & Stun.) Using the above two, let's compare costs. Pretend that both Fireman and Pyrotech have all the same characteristic stats, OCV/DCVs and powers until they get to their last 40 points. Maybe the players of the characters are going for a theme (twins, friendly rivals, or testing which method is better) and decide that these last points will be the deciding factors. Now, with 40 points Pyrotech mentions he's going to have an ER for his fire powers. He then spends 20 points on the End & 20 on Rec, for 200 End 20 Rec in his ER. Very impressive. The player of Fireman wants to allocate his points the same way, but won't use an ER. He spends 20 points on his End (adding 40) and spends 20 on Rec (adding 10). To keep things simple, both characters had 10 Rec, 50 Stun & 50 End before spending their last 40 points. After spending the points, though, Fireman now has a 15 Rec & 90 End. In the above two examples, let's pretend that both characters have used up 15 End for Running (work with me), 65 End for powers and taken 45 stun. Character ------ "Starting" End/Stun -- Seg 12 Rec -- P-Seg 12 Rec Fireman................10/5.....................25/30..................40/45 Pyrotech.................25/5.....................35/15..................45/25 Pyrotech's ER............135/-...................135/-..................155/- With this, Pyrotech still has plenty of End in his ER to keep using flame powers, but he's much closer to being ko'd than Fireman. Here, Pyrotech *might* be able to push both his Energy Blast and Force Field to get some extra oomph in to help out. If so, he can save the day. But if he can't, he's likely to be the next one to go out. Now, let's pretend that the above two are fighting Phantom Fatigue who drains End out the wazoo and hits them for some Stun as well. Somehow, both are down to 5 End & Stun on their characteristics and Pyrotech has only 5 End left in is ER. Let's see how that works out. Character ------ "Starting" End/Stun -- Seg 12 Rec -- P-Seg 12 Rec Fireman................5/5......................20/20..................35/35 Pyrotech.................5/5.....................15/15..................25/25 Pyrotech's ER............5/-.....................5/-...................25/- Oh, no! While both men are close to being out and might need to retreat, Fireman has it better in case Phantom Fatique has one last fatigue/concussion grenade left. ____________________ Also, an ER can represent one power (especially for continuous/uncontrolled powers). Let's pretend that {speed 6} Nancy "the Nice" Ninja has her standard ninja weapons, but she has one mystical weapon as well. While searching the supposedly empty estate of the Evil Unethical Imperials, she is ambushed by four {speed 5} Aggressive Assassins. Uh oh! Nancy "the Nice" Ninja can simultaneously deal with two, no problem; three, tough but doable; four, she's not *that* good. Well, in cases like this, Nancy has a secret weapon, she has one Shakra Shuriken of Shame for which she has bought an ER (6 Rec/30 End). Maybe this is a RKA continuous/uncontrolled. Anyway, it costs 5 End/phase to use. Nancy Ninja starts off combat with levels in DCV while throwing her Shakra Shuriken of Shame at one of the Agressive Assassins and hits! She does damage, including a BODY or two. The enemy attacks and only one hits for minimal damage. Now, on Nancy's next turn, her Shuriken (at 5 End per Nancy attack phase) keeps on attacking said Assassin who starts screaming that "it's alive and it's crawling!" At the same time, Nancy does a sweep on two of her foes. To make a long story short, after six Nancy phases of combat, that Shuriken has attacked 6 times, possibly killing or KO'ing one Assassin. Nancy may be wounded herself and have only one opponent left who's in better condition than she is, but he doesn't know it. Last phase the Assassin who was hit by the Shurkin dies a nasty, gurgling death after screaming the whole time. Even though Nancy doesn't have any more mystical Shurikens, she bluffs by pulling a regular shuriken out and asks "Do you want some of this, too?" The last Assassin flees. One minute/five turns later, the Shakra Shuriken of Shame is *finally* recharged, though Nancy has had the potential of 30 recoveries! She has finished getting what info she needs and flees, is at her maximum Stun & End, has bandaged her wounds, and is going home for the night! I hope this helps. Let me know if you still have some questions on it.

Re: SUPER product endorsements? In the San Angelo game, Dynamo works for a company as security and did some commercials. In either that game or another game I ran, one of the PCs ended up having a huge fan base. The game was set in California (either San Francisco or "San Angelo") and the PC was named Guardian (had wings and wore a Roman/Greek soldier style outfit). The player was the 2nd least to crave attention (the least was one who she'd have a hard time role-paying anything more creative than zombies). I chose him because two of the players were also GM's and tended to shine the spotlights on each other in their own games, and the third was a former drama major who was an attention whore even when he wasn't involved in the scene. I made Guardian the "City's favorite super." After talking to a friend of mine who lived in S.F. and listening to a co-worker talk about a party he once went to, I also made Guardian's biggest fan club belong to the homosexual community and I let him bump into (no pun intended) the fan club president -whom I based off said co-worker- quite often to give him compliments and updates. The PC politely declined endorsements and ralleys though.

Re: Dark Champions in Champs Universe?

Re: The myth of the Spanish Inquisition I know I didn't. I don't. Wait! I'll go make sure my doors & windows are locked.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... (Dang, am I the only one responding any more? ) Okay, last set for now. Champions (4 color) Scene: Dr. Destroyer's island. Our group: Caliber >Me<, Thor, Nike (Wonder Woman martial artist), and Olga (2nd strongest brick when fully grown w/density increase, right behind Grond, has morphing & shrinking powers as well) just finish beating up some Destroyer agents. We see another squad, much smaller than the first, heading towards us. Olga (normal size) picks up one of the downed agent's energy rifle, points it at the guys coming and misfires shooting every last round out of it. She ends up hitting each of us once, misses the agents, but hits several power generators (doing serious damage), setting off a chain reaction that destroys by explosion those generators relatively near us as well as knocks out the agents that were heading towards us. Olga: Oops. Caliber: Oops? Oops?! Olga, you are no longer permitted to *ever* use a firearm, physical or energy, without my expressed approval. You nearly got us all killed! Nike: And here I thought we only did property damage in Tri-City. Olga: What was I supposed to do? I don't have any ranged attacks and they were too far away. Caliber: Olga, I am the shooter here; that's why I carry two pistols. I'm the only member on the team that can't pick up a car. I get the weapons! I'm trained for them, you're not. Olga: But I don't have a ranged attack, what was I supposed to do? Caliber: Olga, you have single-handedly, well, dual-handedly torn off the sides of buildings. You have done more property damge with your fists than Thor ever has. Thor: -Hey!- Caliber: Why not do what you did last battle and try punching them?! Thor: I guess it's safe to say that Dr. Destroyer knows we're here. Caliber: Hell, Tri-City probably knows we're here, now. __________ Scene: Atop a building in Tri-City. Our group is fighting a few members of Zodiac. One of the members -Libra, I believe- weakened my character (Caliber) with some attack turning him partly into air. Our newest member, Nocturn, runs over to me after I fall down. Nocturn: Are you okay? Caliber: >Choking sound< (One hand points towards throat, one pointing toward torso which is invisible.) Nocturn: Well, you can take care of yourself. I'll be on my way. __________ Futuristic Champions (Legion of SH style) Scene: Firewing has just come to a planet and started wreaking havoc. Our group goes in to intercept him on his rampage. Both Firewing and my character are hovering above the ground about 10-20" or so. (Paraphrasing) Valor (yes, a 300 pt naive version): Stop where you are! We cannot allow you to continue this any further. Firewing: Move aside mortal. You are not native to this planet. My destiny is to find and defeat this world's greatest gladiator and raze the planet until he comes forth. I will severly punish anyone who attempts to prevent this. Valor: (Inhales deeply) You're going to have to get by me first. (To the GM) This is going to hurt, isn't it? GM: (Nods head) Yep. Valor: (Exhales. Ends up being dazed prior to taking 20" or so of knockback.) __________ Dark Champions are the following three. Scene: Warehouse. Our team versus hired mercenaries. My character (Cavalier - 40 STR, flies, N-Ray vision, regenerates) goes up against Scorpia (from Terror, Inc., though no one else from there is present). He tries smooth talking her so they won't have to fight. She's allowed him to put his hands on her shoulders and give a massage. Then she guts him and pulls her blades out. My guy's response: shows her the healing wounds and then says, "You may be hot, but now I'm gonna' have to beat you." __________ Scene: The docks. Our team is fighting the supervillain leaders of a Yakuzza gang. During the fight, we have discovered that the villains have some drugs and/or weapons in the warehouse. There is a nearby van that some of the villains arrived in. Enigma is our main brick (my character being the other). When he's at full growth, he has a 90 STR. Gladiator is a grim version of Captain America and our team leader. Iron Bull is the villains' brick. Gladiator: Iron Bull is heading into the warehouse. Cavalier, stop him! Cavalier: I can't! I'm entangled again. Be out in a sec. Enigma: I'll stop him. Gladiator: You're too far away! Enigma: Not any more. "Grows to full height." (To GM) I want to pick up the van and throw it at the warehouse. GM: (Thinks, writes stuff down.) Okay, with combat going on, we'll say the warehouse is DCV 3, but you are very far away and the van is definitely not aerodynamic. Okay, you are effectively an OCV 8 trying to hit a DCV 3, so only a 17 or 18 will miss. An 18 has a chance to hit a teammate. Enigma: (Picks up van and throws it.) Seventeen. All: (Amazement and laughter) Cavalier: (Breaks free of entangle. Speaks in friendly sarcasm.) Enigma, you are the only guy I know that can't hit the side of a warehouse. And with a van, no less. Enigma: (Returning to normal size, with an embaressed grin on his face) Shut up. __________ Scene: Haunted area of town. Our patrol (Gladiator, Psychic Warrior, and my new character: Checkmate) is searching for a Spectre-like being called Totengeist, but instead we stumble across some evil cult. We're in over our head when Totengeist shows up and proceeds to wade through the cult, but he doesn't care for us either. He takes off his "Phantom of the Opera"-style mask and yells a PRE attack of "GO AWAY!" to everyone. The remaining cult members die of heart attacks. Psychic Warrior: I just wet myself. I'm going home to my happy place. Checkmate: (Nodding head real fast) Patrol's over? Gladiator: (Nods back fast) Patrol's over! We get on our motorcycles and go our separate ways. Psychic Warrior goes home and curls up in a corner. Gladiator goes to the base and hides under his covers. Checkmate pulls up to a bar, takes off his helmet and gloves, puts on a trenchcoat then goes in. GM as bartender: What can I get you, stranger? Checkmate: A pitcher of beer and a glass. GM: Here you go. Checkmate: (To GM) Okay, I pour a full glass, set it down and drink from the pitcher.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Deadlands It was our first time playing the game the game. My character was a short female and I was just looking over her stats when I noticed her agility/dexterity was very good. Me: (Out loud, to myself) Damn, I'm a nimble little, f***. Kyle: (Bursts out laughing) Jana: (Slaps me) Me: Ow! What? Oh, I didn't mean it like that. Though she probably is. Jana: (Slaps me) __________ D&D 2E We have many funny instances of things happening that don't have a specific quote with them, and some that may take to long to explain, such as "Weasels! A horde of Weasles, run for your lives!" along with the infamous night of the "slaughter of the elves," and Marvin's literal body piercings. One memorable event was after Jana's character walked into a trap and set off a fireball. The DM had her roll saving throws for each of her items. Towards the end, it went something like this: Jana: Almost finished, scroll case. DM: (Rolls) Saved. Next. Jana: Torches DM: Torched. Next. Jana: Candles DM: Burned. Next. Jana: Jeff, you're not rolling. DM: Yes, dear, I know. Next. Jana: Rope 50 feet. DM: (Rolls) Hmm, saved. Next. Jana: Nope, I think that's it. DM: Okay, let's... Jana: Wait! I found something. Ring of... what is that? ... oh, ring of fire protection. All: (Laughing for a bit, then...) Dave: (In a mocking squeaky voice) If you put them on your fingers, they work.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Star Wars (d6) Scene: Planet at the edge of known systems. Our team is infiltrating an Imperial secret base. GM: (paraphrasing here) A shadow covers everything you see. From above, a huge object eclipses the sun. A feeling of immenent doom -should you fail- comes over you. Looking up, you see an ominous sight in the shape of a spearhead. You recognize the vessel as... (cueing music) MUSIC: (Intending Imperial March) Star Wars Cantina theme. __________ Later that game day, an Imperial officer has found us (in Imperial uniforms)and is questioning our suspicious activities. All of us appear legit, except for one, who is carrying C-4 in his cargo pants. PC #1 (leader): And that's how our orders were rerouted. Imperial: Almost everything seems to be in order, but you [PC #2] haven't explained why you have the demolitions and where you have been for the past half-hour. Explain yourself. PC #2: Well sir, if you must know, I was masturbating. We laughed for about 1/2 and hour. __________ While trying to escape, we come upon a dark jedi who keeps reflecting our bolts and is getting closer to us. PC #3: Wait! Everyone fire on my signal; he can't deflect them all at once! (Sadly, he reflects them all and my PC - the bounty hunter - gets hit with his own 6d6 blast and gets killed.)

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Golden Age Champions My character (Orion) falls several hundred feet or so, taking little or no body, but is worse than -100 stun. Player of Sgt. Justice: I think Orion just did 1" of knockback to the Earth. Character of Sgt. Justice: (Looking at his girlfriend, Lady Shadow) Did you just feel the Earth move? Lady Shadow: Yes. Sgt. Justice: I'm just that good, aren't I? ____________________ Modern Age Champions Scene: It's December and a villain has taken the guise of Santa Clause and is using a flying red sleigh with eight reindeer to cause mayhem. Reindeer have miniature missiles that they launch & evil Santa's bag had various destructive devices in them. Thor (Sgt. Justice's grandson; same player) has KO'd evil Santa and is trying to control the sleigh, though he has no idea how. My character (who can't fly) is being carried by a flying female PC, trying to catch up. (Since I'm the brains of this group.) Me: Okay, he's not looking at us, right? GM: Correct, he doesn't appear to notice you. Me: I'll shoot my flash at him, knowing it won't blind him hoping he'll notice. (Flash roll made, perception roll made) Thor: Great, I'm standing on hundreds of explosives and the lovebirds are trying to pass me. _______________ Same game, same day. The sleigh has landed. The other PCs are a block away fighting the remnants of the evil Santa's troops. My character is trying to disarm the reindeer. I fail my demolitions roll (17) and all of sudden all reindeer eyes light up and a computer voice says "reindeer armed." I look into the red bag and find various explosives, one of which is hand-shaped grenade. Me: Huh, a hand grenade. (Pulls pin, puts hand grenade back into bag.) RUN! Santa set it to self-destruct! About one turn later all the explosives went off destorying one city building and severely damaging the block. It was the *only* time my character did property damage and no character (except for my other PC -who was a SEAL buddy- in a Dark Champions game in another city) ever found out about it.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Wow! I've just found this thread tonight and it's taken me three hours to go through 17 pages, so I'll have to read more later. Anyway, onto a few quotes. These are all oldies, but goodies. Scene: Bank being robbed. It was my first time playing Champions. A few villains, one of which was holding a female hostage. I thought I could hit him. I rolled, missed him and hit her. My damage was very low, but enough to knock her out. My fellow players looked at me in shock, not believing I would attack a villain holding a hostage. I needed to save face somehow. My character: That was "stun," do you want to see "kill?" The villain dropped the woman and held up his hands in surrender. Five real years later. Champions Western Hero game. Scene: Rain falling. Three PCs outside w/weapons pointed at an Outlaw. My character was a bounty hunter. The "villain" had a female hostage. There was a river/stream nearby with rushing water. Outlaw: Anyone come closer and I'll kill her. Me: Not if I kill you first. (I shoot at his shoulder and miss him by 1, hitting her) Female: (Screams) PC #2: Damnit! Don't do that again. Outlaw: You'll pay for that. (Shoots & misses) PC #3: I'm going to try and ease around to his blind side. Me: Forget it, bad roll. You're going to jail. (I shoot at his leg, miss him by 1, hit her) Female: (Screams) Outlaw: I can't believe you're letting him shoot at me! I'll kill her if he doesn't. (Fires at me, grazes off arm) PC #2: STOP SHOOTING HER! (It's the girl we three all want to date) PC #3: I'm running to get the doctor. Outlaw: Leave me alone bounty hunter. Me: I'll take you in if I have to kill you first. (I fire at his *other* shoulder; miss by 1, hit her) Female: (Faints) Outlaw: Oh, hell! (Runs away, slips in the river/stream) Me: F*** it, I'm jumping in after him and will either catch him or die drowning. I don't want to go to jail for this [GM]. Later that year in a Legends of the Five Rings game. Scene: Ryoki Owari (Big city; lots of crime) Our samurai are hot on the trail of some evil magic users's servants. They split up and we choose to do so as well, one on one. My character is a Scorpion (think Japanese spy/mafia family) Bushi. Follows one and traps him in a warehouse where he takes a peasant hostage. GM as criminal: Don't come any closer, or I'll kill him. Player #2: (To GM) His character is a Scorpion, does this guy realize this? GM: Um, hmm, his jaw starts quivering. Me: Go ahead. Or I can do you a favor and gut you both. GM: Wait, please, don't! Me: (Tells GM I want to make a called shot missing the hostage if possible, but if not, to be able to hit them both) I roll well enough to miss the hostage and kill the criminal. GM as Peasant: Thank you! I owe you my life. Me: Silence. Don't tell anyone that I saved your life, or I'll kill you.

Re: Other Super Hero RPGs as Sources Definitely many from "San Angelo" (especially Anarchy, who I plotted to eliminate the *real* Eurostar [4E]) as well as several ICE groups (Protectors, Seven Horseman, and VOICE). Outside of the Champions & HERO systems, I have several DC Heroes supplements and I almost was able to use Ambush Bug. One other module I have is "The Knights of Beverly Hills" from the "Enforcers" line. One interesting fact is that in "The Knights of Beverly Hills" the character S.C.O.R.P.I.O.N. is the same picture (by the same artist) for the character Photon from the "San Angelo" setting.

Re: How many is enough?? As to the number of players in a group: The smallest group I played in was just me as the only PC in a Golden Age HERO's game. This was a long and (torturous) adventure that the GM ran for me a few hours before our normal gaming group showed up for whatever game we were running at the time. I've also been in an "aside" mission that another GM ran with my roommate and me. He did this for Champions and for D&D. Let's see, the largest group had the DM and 10-11 players in it (yes, D&D), while there was one that had five PCs and seven NPCs, and for Champions had eight players & the GM, I believe. Though the largest number of characters in a game, all as PCs, was about 42-44, spread amongst 4 players and myself as the DM (running all my characters). As to three people being too small: Don't knock three. If there can be a Dynamic Duo, then you can have a Terrific Trio! As far as having either a secret base or a mansion, I say leave that to the players to decide. If you are uncomfortable with three, thinking 4-5 is a good number, run an NPC or two, just make sure they don't outshine the PCs.

Re: Question about mind control and enrage Heh, who knows? If he missed by throwing the normals, his movethrough might miss, though I'm sure he'd hit a building.

Re: Question about mind control and enrage