Jump to content

Basil

HERO Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    5,275

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Basil

  1. Welcome to McGuffins. May I take your order?

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: Welcome to McGuffins. May I take your order?

     

    Aladdin's lamp and ring. Particularly if you go to the original idea, which had none of this "three wishes" bumf, and w/o the "twist the wish around" stuff. The genie of the lamp (and the genie of the ring) obeyed the owner, fully and willingly and helpfully, *and* with all their considerable power.

     

    Then there's "The Gizmo". In it's "off" form it's a unremarkable medallion. When turned on, it turns into whatever non-magical/non-superpowered/etc. device you need, and changes back into a medallion when you no longer need whatever it was. Important note: that's *need*, not want; and, it's a bit peculiar in deciding what you need.

  2. Aliens: everything you know is... well, "wrong" doesn't even begin to cover it.

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Aliens: everything you know is... well, "wrong" doesn't even begin to cover it.

     

    I made it all the way through the cited article, but the writer lost my willingness-to-listen at this point:

     

    "Yet, structure and organization are mere language elements. They are “in our head” so to speak. They do not exist in reality."

     

    The writer's PhD is clearly not in physics. Structure exists from crystals on "up" and, from a POV, from sub-atomic particles on up.

     

    Word-trickery and twaddle, and d**n-all else.

  10. General Atomics electromagnetic rail cannon

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: General Atomics electromagnetic rail cannon

     

    Mach 31' date=' about 7 miles per second, LEO in, um 45 seconds more or less. Assuming we can find some way for a payload to not react to hitting air at that speed like it would hitting concrete (OK, a BIG assumption), should be able to devise a heat shield that could keep the payload safe for less than a minute.[/quote']

     

    The velocity needed to get to LEO is ~8000 m/s, and ANYTHING will turn to plasma at ~4000 - 4200 m/s. Anything "shot" into orbit will have most or all "boiled away" long before it gets to the stratosphere.

     

    Unless the heat shield is significantly more massive than the payload it's protecting, trying to "shoot" into LEO can't be done. And since the heat shield would be completely lost, it's highly uneconomical.

     

    Mind you, a sled-like set up to get a capsule up to ~3000 m/s would work, assuming the capsule has a rocket motor. The fraction of "take off" mass that must be propellent drops pretty rapidly with a decrease in the velocity the rocket has to add to its starting velocity.

  11. Steampunk-like world setting needs hero/power ideas

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: Steampunk-like world setting needs hero/power ideas

     

    And isn't there a "super skill" called SCIENCE! in the Ultimate Skill ? I'm thinking 5th Ed here, and my books are in Arkansas at the moment and I am here in St Louis so I can't check...Anyone ?

     

    -Carl-

     

    Not in UltSkill, but there's Scientific Genius in Pulp Hero. It's on p.295, and is simply +5 with all Science Skills; there are no modifiers, so it costs 25 points. The options are:

    True Genius: +7 with all Science Skills: costs 35 points

    Not Quite Such a Genius: +3 with all Science Skills: costs 15 points

  13. Icons - The Costume and Superpowers Store

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: Icons - The Costume and Superpowers Store

     

    The whole "villains must pay money" bit cuts out a large number of comic-book-standard villain motivations, and not just the World Conqueror types.

     

    There are plenty of destructive, depraved, violent, and flat-out whacko villains. Not all are rich or interested in becoming rich.

     

    It just doesn't feel right to me.

     

    The infamous Dr. Infamous and The Mallard refuse to discuss if there really is an "Icons."

    The Bacandforthtrian is of two minds about the idea. The alpacapla both agrees and disagrees with the Bacandforthtrian.

     

    The llamalls are listening to Aomoxomoa, and I don't know what the supersonic telepathic mutant penguins with lazer eyes are up to. Perhaps trying to find Icons.

  17. Answers & Questions

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Answers & Questions

     

    A: well' date=' I speak LOUDLY, and I carry a BIGGER Stick! And I use it, too![/quote']

    Q #1: There's a guy out here with a stick and he's yelling about how he's going to beat you up; how do you feel about that?

    A: Wax on. Wax off.

    Q #2: So how do keep that bigger stick looking so good?

     

     

    A: I have become comfortably dumb.

×
×
  • Create New...