SuperPheemy

Re: Genres HERO GAMES may want to avoid (intended to be humorous) I hate it when my balls start rolling, I have to chase-em down, and crawl under the table.... and it hurts too...

Re: Batman is dead I think Thia's principle is on target. Remember your (potential) players' character's first, and keep tons of room open for them. You pay a lot of attention to your development of the signature characters in your campaign. Which is great. In fact, with all the detail you have in place for the "Bat Team", you could propose a villain campaign, where characters are running through Gotham trying to take advantage of the chaos caused by the release of the Arkham Inmates. Thus, when the PRIMUS Batman shows up on the scene, the characters pee themselves. But because the odds are more or less even, the characters get away or drive the Batman off. In short, they "win" the scenario. I know if I was playing in that game, I'd have about a million questions, because by all accounts, the Batman should wipe the floor with a team of 250 point junior villians like us PCs. You can direct the story line in such a way that the PCs can gather evidence that Batman has changed, and might even be dead. Maybe with the big payoff that PRIMUS has taken over what was once the persona of Batman. If the PCs are the first to learn that bit of information, what could they do with it, and who would want to keep it silent.

Re: Batman is dead Unless Beverly Martin is a Player's Character, put her firmly in the background. Let the PCs have the spotlight (and try to live up to the Batman's Legacy). Let the PCs handle the Batmobile. Martin can be their superior, and be the chief of operations for the Batcave (and thereby be the person who determines whether or not the Batmobile should be used on a given mission.) I'd frame the game in such a way as to illustrate that it takes a team of PRIMUS agents with all of the resources of the Batcave, and a full-time coordinating superior to accomplish what Bruce Wayne did with only Alfred, Barbara and Robin or years. PRIMUS should also be sticking their bureaucratic noses in on a regular basis so no one agent gets too comfortable in the role of Batman. Indeed, I'd figure a PRIMUS type agency would be very keen on "transitioning out" the vigilante Batman persona in favor of a more controllable Special Cases Law Enforcement Unit. There's a good secondary conflict there as the troubles plaguing Gotham really can't be solved "by the book" and actually need a vigilante like the Batman. Senior Directors seldom see it that way.

Re: Mechanon take control of the Minute Man VII Robots How many Minutemen does the IHA have? Even if there's only two-dozen, twenty four giant robots led by Mechanon can wreak havoc on any large urban area. Or could easily sterilize a small nation to serve as a base of operations. Personally, that sounds like an awesome scenario. Worthy of Mechanon's legacy.

Re: Traveller-era guns I liked how Alien Wars addressed the issue of slugthrowers vs lasers. Laser weapons don't require an army to transport Megatons of ammunition accross the galaxy. Recharging stations for batteries are smaller and easier to move (especailly as technology makes batteries smaller and more powerful). Thus, IMTU slugthrowers are good civilian and planetary militia armaments, but the big armies and navies use laser weapons. I replace the TL10 ACR with an equivilant laser based weapon.

Re: City of Heroes (Champions of Champion) All my characters are on Champion server. Though they're all still very low level. The character I'm playing most frequently is my level 12 scrapper StarSilver (claws/reflexes)

Re: When did [Title X] Jumping the Shark Hence the term "Marvel Zombie".

Re: When did [Title X] Jumping the Shark For me, Iron Man jumped the shark just after the first Armor Wars. I remember being so excited, especially after the issue where Tony returns to his sabotaged space station. Good stuff there. Then something happened, a series of blind artists and sentience-challenged writers took over. (It's been near 20 years, I can't really recall what actually happened but I think that's when Jim Shooter quit Marvel). I suffered through about 6 issues of crap hoping that ShellHead would come back. He never did.

Re: Creepiest/Sickest superhero concept ever? Penance (formerly Speedball). His powers and costume really combine into a character design I've seen from countless munchkins ("see, the more STUN and BODY he takes, the more STUN and BODY he gets, thus becoming indestructable! Oh, and he's tortured by what he's done in the past, blah blah blah.") Furthermore, he looks like he's been playing too much Silent Hill.

Re: The United States is a constitutional monarchy I prefer Emperor Benedict. Just because he becomes Emperor Bennie! Similar to the juvenile amusement I get from the current Pope. Pope Bennie! For some reason that just gives me the chuckles.

Re: Kepler's Conjecture To go back to the formula, the "slice" of the cylinder is actually the area of the circle of the cylinder multiplied by one hex. Coming from your cylinder, each circular slice is 10 meters in diameter. Thus the radius is 5 meters. A Hero Hex is 2 meters, thus the radius of your 10 meter circle is 5/2 or 2.5 hexes. Thus the formula to calculate the area (in 2 meter hexes) becomes pi(2.5^2).

Re: CHAMPIONS REVISED -- If We Do It, What Would You Like To See? Sorry to toss a tangent in here. I have a better idea of the limitations of the revision now, but don't have anything better than what's already been suggested. However, considering a couple of the ideas and observations made here, it would seem that a full-on overhaul and big-ol revision might be worth considering. Not now, of course, but perhaps for '09 or '10. I think that in the years since HERO 5 was released, there have been a ton of refinements, both in the realm of formatting, rules presentation, and just general feel. I look at my Champions book compared to Dark Champions compared to Pulp Hero and Champs is just starting to show it's age. The latter books are simply more elegant. Which takes nothing away from the excellent material in Champions. I'm just saying that it might be due for that 100,000 mile overhaul. Food for thought.

Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game @Brightmantle All on Champions Server Brightmantle - Lv6 Defender Electricity/Kinetic - Hero Blackmantle - Lv7 Corrupter Fire/Dark - Villain StarSilver - Lv6 Scrapper Claws/Reflexes - Hero Scarlet Salamander - Lv2 Tanker Fire/Fire - Hero

Re: CHAMPIONS REVISED -- If We Do It, What Would You Like To See? I'd like to see the "random HERO tables" removed and replaced by a series of package deals. Mix and match the deals and bingo, a superhero in 20 minutes. It's been my experience that method is much easier to teach people Champions and not scare them away. I'd suggest further that the Package Deals resemble the more popular Heroes and villains in the comic books (with the serial numbers filed off, like you did with the Questonite Shield in Gadgets and Gear).

Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game I finally took the plunge and am now on Champion server as Brightmantle (Hero) and as Blackmantle (Villain).

Re: KISS vs MEPD

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See? An alien/ space based suggestion Star*Guard Fugitives: Not a group per-se but a number of alien bad guys who have been captured by the Star*Guard in the past, but escaped. They share background elements, but otherwise are antisocial loners. Space Pirates: A band of star-borne pillaigers and plunderers with an ancient, salvaged Malvan scout-cruiser. The pirates are otherwise normal (except for being alien scum from across the galaxy, but have access to Malvan technologies which allow them to strike with overwhelming force, and get away.

I've used Dragons very rarely as direct influences in games. Usually they're mythological legends of the distant past, or reptilian equivilants of "Kaizer Soze", working so far behind the scene that they're invisible. That's a long and indirect way of saying that in all my years of gaming I've run very few combats against (or with) Dragons. And never in Fantasy Hero. So, what happened the last time any of your groups went up against the classic fire-breating winged fantasy dragon? How powerful were the heroes? Did they get their lifetime stock of Dragon-Jerky, or did your group need to start a new Star Hero game because their fantasy characters ended up Dragon Chow? I'm looking for advice here. What do I need to avoid, what should I play to the hilt. My goal is to end up with one of those memorable encounters that the players talk about for years on end. I'm not looking to humble players with a supermonster, nor am I looking for my Dragon to become just another notch on the wizard's staff.

Re: Vespa with 75mm recoiless rifle All I can say is.... Ciao!

Re: World at War!: Hitler's minions

Re: CHAMPIONS UNIVERSE II - What Do You Want To See? Things I'd like to see. 1. A US West Coast setting, the CU has the MidWest, East Coast and Southeast covered, I'd like to see a California setting (and a possible nod to Lucha Hero). 2. A Mechanon upgrade with accompanying adventure.

Re: How to handle Western Hero Duels/Showdowns I'd start with simultaneous PRE attacks, representing the staredown. Giving bonus dice for Reputation, and roleplaying. If both parties are still willing to go to work afterwards, we'd continue with normal DEX based initiative (with appropriate bonuses for Fast Draw, Hip Shooting, etc...)

Re: Battletech Mecha First Loves, Favourites, and just plain silly. Warhammer. It just looked so butt-kickey!

This is a 3d model of an evil living tower. Imagine if the Black Army in chess were Eeeeeeeevil (we're talking Empire Strikes Back Vader type evil!) And they made their Rooks like giant 60 foot golems who squish the little white pawns under their feet! That's Stompy in a nutshell. (OK more like Stompy in a cave, but I'm in kind of a goofy mood after finals).

Re: Star Frontiers Conversion You know, I don't recall my Star Frontiers characters ever using a laser on any setting besides maximum. If I shot someone I wanted them to be D.E.D.