SuperPheemy

Re: City of Heroes/Villains Mission ARCs I so feel you there. My second ARC is only 3 missions long because of space requirements (and it's still at 99.xx%). Originally I had a custom Contact, a custom Rescue, two groups of custom villains.. etc.. Sadly, I had to make do with prepackaged contacts and only one group of custom villains . I'm just hoping that eventually the devs will open up more space for missions, and maybe allow for custom map making (Hey, a fella can dream!)

Re: City of Heroes/Villains Mission ARCs On the contrary, I went ahead and played "Along Came A Spider.." this afternoon. It was five-star fun! Especially when Big T comes down to attack. My only real critique was that the endgame mission was a little abrupt and too short. I'd recommend ending the ARC with Mission 3, expanding Mission 4 to something longer and more dramatic, or adding a Mission 5 wherein the characters and the Alpha Team turn the tables on both the Patron and her rival. I tried to be vague for sake of spoiler-sensitive folks. If you'd like a more detailed critique, go ahead and PM me.

Re: City of Heroes/Villains Mission ARCs When you click on the "My Published Stories" tab in the Architect, you'll get a listing of your published stories. clicking on the itty bitty "+" sign next to the title will expand that window, and therein you will find that ARC's ID number!

For those of us who indulge in the City of.. franchise, I thought it might be nice to have a thread where we can advertise those missions that we have created ourselves, as well as receive feedback, etc... As had been mentioned there are some pretty talented storytellers writing missions as players. Such genius can be and should be mined for inspiration for our own tabletop campaigns. So, without further ado I present my contributions thus far. ARC# 77395 - Red Scare Length: Very Long Mood: Heroic - An old villain from the past returns to Paragon City to renew the Cold War ARC# 98374 - Red Dawn Length: Medium Mood: Heroic - The Red Guard returns with revenge in their hearts, and a diabolical scheme in their minds. Feedback and critique would be much appreciated.

Re: Competition from Marvel ? Back in the late 80s Marve's support for the Marvel Super Heroes RPG lasted about 5 years or so, and was good for RPGs at the time. DCs RPG at the time also enjoyed a good amount of support for about the same period of time. Neither company has managed to get any game produced with similar quality or support since. Here's why I believe that the "Universe Licensed" MMO is always going to have a hard time thriving in the long run. It's about character ownership. In an MMO, nobody is going to get to play the signature characters of the Universe. Nor is anybody going to get the opportunity for their characters to fill the shoes of the signature characters. Or in other words, in a Marvel MMO, no one gets to play Iron Man as their character, and no player's character will ever get to be the icon that would eclipse Iron Man. By default, the Player Characters in an MMO are always "second string" heroes. Because Marvel (and DC) have a vested interest in "protecting their IP value". So no matter what I do with or to my character, he or she will never be stronger than HULK because "HULK strongest there is!!!". I don't care how noble or worthy I make my character, he'll never lift Thor's hammer. Because if I do it, then *everyone* can potentially do it, and soon we have a roster of hundreds and thousands of heroes with names like Roht77832, Wingnut, and "7h0r r001z" who have indeed completed the quest which at the climax has them wielding Mjolnir in the final fight. Which brings us to the culprit behind the scenes at Marvel and DC. Control. Both companies want as much control over how their property is used as possible (which is understandable), and players want as much control over their characters as possible. In the tabletop campaigns this wasn't a problem, because how the world was presented didn't really impact the greater perception of the Setting. If a group of players made replacement Avengers for their game in Reno, NV. Very few people knew, or cared about it. In a computer game like Marvel Ultimate Alliance, everyone who owns the game can play Thor, or Spider Man, or the Thing, because no two instances of MUA interact. One of the things I like about the potential of Champs Online is that Cryptics interest in having an evolving, entertaining setting in which to play is far greater than their interest in making certain that Defender or Sapphire's "value" as superheroes remain "undamaged".

Re: PA Hero -- Best all around ammunition If your PCs have any access to Military or National Guard resources, the 5.56N round is incredibly common. I think that it is identical to the .223 Remington rifle round which makes it even more versatile. It doesn't have near the knockdown power of the 7mm and .30 caliber rounds, but it's accurate and the low recoil means a shooter can acquire new headshots quickly. 12 gauge shotgun shells are easily an reliably reloaded, and have wonderful stopping power. The 9mm Parabellum pistol round might be the most available bullet in the world. If you're not in North America, or Western Europe, then the classic AK-47 and it's 7.62 X 39mm Russian round is by far the most common rifle and bullet in the world. It arms everyone from militias to armies to street gangs. And it's virtually indestructible.

Re: Sto hero Sadly, I cannot. The link leads to the following message. Warning: Unexpected character in input: '' (ASCII=12) state=1 in /WebSites/starherofandom/pm/xmlrpc/xmlrpc.inc on line 505 Parse error: parse error, unexpected '}' in /WebSites/starherofandom/pm/xmlrpc/xmlrpc.inc on line 507 I blame the Romulans...

Considering that HERO and Cryptic are already cross-developing Champs Online and the Champions we all know and love, is there any possibility that Star Trek Online will get the same treatment? After all, Steve does have a pretty keen mind for putting Trek into playable game statistics, and Trek would be a good fit for the HERO system. (Of course, all gaming genres are a good fit for HERO).

Re: Grond is up with podcast He already said in the interview he's candidate for President and angry that he's locked out by the two-party system. If I wasn't already voting for Foxbat I'd be casting a ballot for Grond. He can indeed handle more issues than any major candidate... because he has more hands and you just can't argue with logic like that.

Re: Who was WWII's most important leader? When I first saw your post, I swear I read "Champions' government", then I got all excited for a Golden Age Champions teaser. Darn my self-induced wish-fulfillment hallucinations! And what are you doing writing precious, precious words here Watts? Back to the Supplement Mines with you!!

I've been trying to figure out how large of a "footprint" various siege engines, cannon, and ancient artillery has. Alas, my search through the Internet has proven futile (oh ALAS.. alas... (weep)). So I turn once again to Assembled HEROdom to point me in the direction of raw data which I can crunch into game useable numbers. How much room is needed for the following Engines of War 1. Age of Sail 32 and 18 pound Cannon 2. Trebuchet 3. Catapults and Onagers 4. Ballistas Many thanks... HEROes!

Re: Biggest Brains in DC Darkseid is easily in the "super-genius" category. So is Bruce Wayne. Desaad routinely rewrites the laws of physics with his feindish devices. Dr. Fate an the Spectre reach near-omnipotence at times. Ted Kord was in Batman's league (literally..) he just didn't get credit for his brilliance. The Joker *has* to be smart, just to keep up with Bats. The Riddler is frightening when you think about the way his mind works. If only he didn't have that crippling Psych Lim. (Remember, Riddler figured out Batman's Identity, and can't bring himself to reveal the solution to Gotham's Greatest Riddle). Superman is pretty smart and clever too. At times during the Silver Age, his scientific genius was on par with his physical might. Barry Allen and Ray Palmer are (were) both on the high-end of scientific Genius. The Question is also pretty durn smart.

Re: Who was WWII's most important leader? It of course depends on the context of what you want to be "important". If by important you mean "who can I place in jeopardy so their demise may change the outcome of WWII" then I suggest the following persons. 1. Winston Churchill - For all the reasons mentioned thus far. Especially if the fictional person to fill his void isn't up to the challenge of holding out through 1941. 2. Marshal Georgy Zhukov - Took over the Defense of Moscow, directed the defense of Stalingrad, drove the Wermacht back across Russia and to it's ultimate defeat in Berlin. Zhukov was one of the very few officers to not agree with Stalin and live. It is difficult to imagine two such Generals in Stalin's Russia. 3. FDR - Though Truman was able to finish the War, I don't know if Henry Wallace would have had the savvy and determination to lead the country in a two-front war while negotiating with England, France, Poland, and Soviet Russia. 4. Stalin - What sort of chaos would ensue in Russia if Stalin was assassinated at the start of Barbarossa? Or during the Seige of Stalingrad. Would a paralyzed Soviet Union give the Germans enough breathing room to secure the Ukraine and fuel the Wehrmacht? 5. Eisenhower - Able to balance demands from the Free French, Poland, Montgomery, and Patton. I can't think of any other General capable of keeping the Allies together long enough to invade France after getting bogged down in Italy. Which brings up the question, would Germany be able to fend off England, America and the various Resistance groups if they all acted on their own agendas, and with their own rivalries?

I've been working on ships for my Eldritch Suns setting and have been tinkering with all the lovely vehicle rules. Thus the question of weapons popped into my head. Specifically, how many guns, ballistae, catapults, etc... would be reasonable to fit on a deck, or below decks? Which leads me to start figuring out the "footprint" of big heavy weapons. And I realized that a big ol' heavy gun (or siege weapon) can take up valuable deckspace really fast. It sounds like a terrific vehicle-themed limitation. And it doesn't have to be limited to weapons! Any big, useful device can be limited by being... well... big. So, for vehicles (and presumably bases) I present to you Limitation: Oversized. This represents any device, gadget, or component of a vehicle or base whose sheer size limits where and how many can be placed. -0; Area of 1 hex or less -1/4; Area of 1 - 2 hexes -1/2; Area of 3 - 4 hexes -3/4; Area of 5 - 8 hexes -1; Area of 9 - 16 hexes ... and so forth and so on, with each doubling of area worth another -1/4 lim. My question to you, fellow Gurus is this a reasonable limitation? I'm certain it can be abused, but is it somehow fundamentally broken? Or in simpler terms, whaddya think?

Re: Fantasy Art Thread >rimshot< He'll be here all week folks. Tip your waitress, try the soup!

Since we're heading into October, I put together an HP Lovecraft themed piece for my online portfolio. Inspired by the "Haunter in the Dark" I give you the Monster in the Window. Lose 2d6 SAN

Re: How many arrows can an arrow maker make? When confronted with these questions I as GM consider the following.. 1. How many arrows do I think the character will need to a. Be effective in most of the upcoming encounters and b. not take the ammunition for granted. 2. How important is it to the adventure that the character be distracted by running low on ammo? In the case of point 1, I want the *player* to have fun. After all, if the character is an archery type, then shooting arrows is a big part of that fun. Don't scrooge too much with ammo. By the same token, if the character is being foolish with shooting arrows at every shadow and open hole in the ground "just in case", they run out of arrows pretty quickly. In the case of point 2. Sometimes it is dramatically appropriate for the archer to be conscious of how many arrows are left. An easy way to build dramatic tension is to make clear that *every shot must count* because the character is down to less arrows than foes. But don't overuse the schtick, or it loses it's value as a narrative tool. If the situation really isn't critical and the player wants the quivers full, let 'em. "You spend the day salvaging and making more arrows, by nightfall you're back to having full quivers." If you're pressed for solid numbers, I usually fall back on 24. Two dozens are more than enough for two or three encounters provided some time is taken to recover what spent arrows remain usable.

Re: Fantasy Art Thread I'll add a "mood" piece I originally intended to be an illusrtration to break the ice with a company I was interested in working for... until I learned that said company was on the far side of the country (whoops).

Re: Traveller Hero I am enjoying Traveller HERO much more than the Mongoose release. Don't worry about the License expiration, Traveller has proven to be a very robust game whose material adapts well to a wide variety of systems.

Re: THE BOOK OF THE DESTROYER: What Do *You* Want To See? I'd like to see a solid essay on all of Destroyer's "escape plans", networks of teleporting satellites, secret tunnels, robot duplicates, etc.... One very frustrating aspect of Destroyer is the tendency for him to escape without reason other than "I've prepared for this contingency". What I'm leaning towards here are the tools to create a major story arc wherein the PCs defeat Destroyer "once and for all" (or cripple his operation to such a degree that he won't come back for a loooong time a la Detroit). Also, perhaps a few notes on how to portray the Doctor during these confrontations, what steps does he take when he begins to realize that there is a growing possibility that he might be captured or killed? Is there any way to stop the suicide circuit built into his armor, can the heros stay "Destroyer's own hand?". But really, I just want to see a happy laundry list of satellites, robots, clones, secret emergency tunnels, moonbases, and patsies happy to fall on their own swords in the service of the Destroyer.

Re: Genres HERO GAMES may want to avoid (intended to be humorous) And things come full circle yet again. A friend recently downloaded the RockBand version of Jukeox Hero. It's a tough song to sing, but my point is that JBH has made it into the gaming world! It came alive tonight!

Re: Colonial Gothic? For a Native American in 18th century Colonial New England, it would be appropriate to have a particularly nasty Vulnerability of 1 1/2 to 2X BODY vs European Viral Diseases (Uncommon). By the time the 20th century rolls around that Vulnerability would no longer apply to the culture in general. You could also make a case for a similar Vulnerability to high-alcohol-content substances (that is distilled spirits and the like) because of Vitamin K deficiency. Again a few generations worth of exposure between cultures would make that irrelevant in he end (today's perceived high rate of alcoholism among Native Americans is more of a symptom of the rates of poverty and unemployment suffered on reservation communities than anything inherited from their families). I'd reflect the cultural differences with Everyman Skills and Skill/Perk based Package Deals.

Re: Traveller starship combat If you want to make Vehicle Combat less predictable (that is, if you don't want to have both ships hit all the time) remove the Size Modifier from DCV. Now, this does mean that any given weapon will miss a two-kilometer long Star Galleon at close range, which might hurt your suspension of disbelief. Some GM handwaving might be in order (that is, assume the gunner on the Millenium Tercel hits the Star Galleon on anything less than an 18 regardless of OCV/DCV). This does, in my opinion make dogfighting a little more exciting. Note that this option will extend combat.

Re: Ramming Speed Mechanically, I'd tie the maximum amount of ramming damage to the total DEF + BODY of the ramming vessel. And maybe take SIZE into consideration. Thus a SIZE 5 BODY 20 Fighter won't vaporize a SIZE 50 BODY 2000 Dreadnought (or in more graphic terms, the X Wing can crash into the Death Star and still allow Luke his moment of Glory). In some respects, Kinetic-Kill weapons are just unmanned (or sometimes Kamikaze) vessels that are little more than engines, armor, and control surfaces designed specifically to ram larger vessels. With enough acceleration, such a weapon wouldn't even need much guidance, so long as it was vectored accurately at launch.

Re: Weapon Design Question Well, that was just anticlimactic. I was expecting some arcane rules-heavy response dealing with point costs and compatibility with Linking or Power Frameworks, etc... I think I'm starting to fall too deep into my hobby...