Basil

Re: Pulp names and basics Thanks for clearing that up.

Re: Answers & Questions Q: I like your idea of turning the Presidential "race" into an actual race. Where do you think we should hold it? A: Sorry, it was a week ago. And 16 kilometers farther up.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares Seven Brides for Frankenstein.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Multiple dreams, all night long, about driving around, in a convertible, in tropical lands, in a "Magnum PI" style tropical shirt. (Actually happened to me last night. Six times! Well, the shirt was only once.)

Re: Answers & Questions Q: How did the launch of the S.S. Swiss Cheese go? A: That's not a good thing to build ships out of.

Re: urban fantasy hero posts That's what I thought, given various descriptions, but I was hoping for Lord Darcy-ish setting info. I'll be sure to get it anyway.

Gold coins, that is! In Jerusalem, which has got to be a top pulp-archeology place. Info on the find. A little bit on the actual discoverer. A small change here & there, a few traps, and you've got a Pulp scenario.

Re: Adventure Seed: Dinos in the Mists That "sulfur taint" is, of course, hydrogen sulfide. Which is a bit heavier than air, and tends to pool in low places. If you made the raptors and T-rexes either dependent on, or very sensitive to, HS, you could give the PCs an edge. OTOH, if they're less sensitive to HS, that gives them an edge over the PCs. Just something occurred to my diseased mind. My diseased mind is another fine product, and unregistered non-trademark, of Basil's Twisted Imagination, Unincorporated.

Re: urban fantasy hero posts Author Randell Garrett. Lead character is Lord Darcy, the Chief Criminal Investigator for the Duke of Normandy (who is the younger brother of the King of England, and France, Holy Roman Emperor, etc.). Alternate timeline where (A) Richard I didn't die until much later and ( the laws of magic were worked out in the 13th century (I think). Set in the 1960's for the most part (all the stories were set in times contemporary with the times they were written in the Real World). Steam engines are known and used (railroads and ships, mostly), but electricity is mostly an enigma. Gunpowder is used; a revolver plays a significant role in one story. However, much of what is done by technology in the real world is doen by magic in Lord Darcy's world. For instance, keyed locks work by magic; the matching of wards and pins/tumblers is by magic, not the shape of the parts. The stories are mysteries, and it shows Mr. Garrett's excellence as an author that the mysteries are solved by deduction and detection, not by a deus ex machina use of magic. Magic has rules, it has limitations, and those rules fit together logically and reasonably; due to the limitations, actual detective work is needed to solve the puzzles the stories present. Marvelous stories! I recommend them most highly.

Re: I need a function! This peculiar device is much prized by evil masterminds who like to have a backup escape plan. It's carved from a dragon's femur, into a curved shape. When the trigger word is spoken, it grows into a full-sized playground slide. As well, the person holding the Skelter finds himself sitting at the top of the slide. He need merely "push off" and slide down; on the way down he fades from view. Simultaneously, he "fades in" at another location. This location can be either a place concentrated on just before, and during, the slide, or a place previously "locked in". If the current owner has not "locked in" a location, the location most recently "locked in" is where the user lands up. After use, the Skelter changes back to a simple, shaped bone, and disappears, having been teleported to an unknown, new location. It is invariably found fairly quickly, and always by an evil genius. Though it's a "one shot" excape device, more than one mastermind owes his life to the Skelter. "One of the best things I ever got a hold of," says the infamous Dr. Infamous, "I still hope I can find it again. After all, no-one has ever claimed you only get to use it once in your life!" Dr. Infamous is another fine product of Basil's Twisted Imagination, Unincorporated. All rights reserved. NEXT: The Helter You should have seen that coming.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... :think: She's wearing a dominatrix around her middle?

Re: Answers & Questions Q: How would you describe a labyrinth with too many traps? A: You can call it snow, I call it the ultimate horror!

Re: Newly-found raptor

Re: What's a 2,000 year old zombie eat? "I rolled you up" --- What's New, With Phil & Dixie, Book One.

Re: urban fantasy hero posts Will there be anything along the lines of the Lord Darcy stories? That is, a world that seems much like ours, but with magic replacing (largely but not necessarily completely) technology?

Re: A Question From a Math Challenged Individual OK, I must have been misinformed or misunderstood something I read some time back (can't remember where). I had thought all the digits were the "account number" per se. According to here and here, the first six numbers identify the issuer, the last digit is a "check" digit, and the rest are the account number per se. (note that this site says something else).

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat

Re: The Littlest Fireman Excellent! Terrific idea and background. As for the second seed; I'd be tempted to sit the idiot down and explain the difference between soul, spirit, and "psychic remnant." And then smack him and tell him to butt out.

Re: A Question From a Math Challenged Individual 50 * (6.7 * 10^9) = 3.35 * 10^11 That's a minimum of 12 digits. However, that runs a very, very high risk of mis-identification, mis-filing, etc., due to transposition of a digit, etc. The current USA SSN has 9 digits, giving a theoretical max of one billion numbers. Which avoids the above problem, but not really well enough. Common credit cards have 16 digits, about twice as many as "needed," which thoroughly avoids the problem. Which raises the question, how much will the "ID" number you have in mind be used? The more widely used, the more you need to avoid inadvertent "overlap". I'd suggest 1.5 -2 times as many digits as really needed, if the ID number will be used as much as credit cards are now. You would also want to get rid of any "planet/area/etc." system, as that would make guessing someone's ID number easier. OTOH, if it will be used more like current USA SSN's, the ideas of ghost-angel and Spence would be fine.

Re: Star Trek: Goodbye Majel Roddenberry Yeah, too many of them are gone. :( RIP, Majel.

Re: Answers & Questions Q: What's a worse place than Hell itself? A: Sing it again, and die.

Re: Solar HERO: Two from Saturn's moons

Re: Post-Apoc: Earth's Magnetic "Shield" Failure Shades of Morrow Project!

Re: Order of the Stick

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Woe to the world, Foxbat has come; Let Earth receive her doom. NT: ____ the herald angels sing.