Alverant
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Re: Ten Best Superhero Martial Arts
At that point' date=' the Tai Chi guy is probably in better shape than the guy that beat the crap out of himself every night in his youth[/quote']I am glad someone mention Tai Chi by now. The things Dauntless talks about is pretty much covered by Tai Chi. Legend says it's the first martial art based on the movements of animals. I'd put it in the top ten because of the mysticism surrounding it and the unnatural calm Tai Chi masters have. Being able to fight while not getting mad and casually dodging/blocking and attacks can have an enormous psychological effect.
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Re: Numb3rs
Check it out' date=' and take notes. It really is fun to watch people being brilliant, and how you can twist that brilliance to your own . . . um, your player's benefit.[/quote']While I'm a fan of the show, I'm not so sure that Numb3rs (or any TV show for that matter) can give anything more than a plot idea for a GM. Dramas count on that twist near the end. Translating Numb3rs into a game session would ultimately hinge on the PCs making a SS Mathematics roll or something like that. I'm not so sure if I want finding the solution to be so dependent on a single roll. The players should have options of figuring stuff out and the GM should be able to throw them a bone instead of spoon feeding them the solution.
Example:
GM: OK roll against your Topography skill to find out where the terrorists will try to poison the water supply.
Player: Ummm rolled a 17 {bleep}
GM: Within an hour there are hundreds of reports of people dropping dead taking showers or drinking water. The city is in chaos and the President is openly talking about using nukes on {Mideastern city in a country unrelated to this terrorist group}.
I don't think that will go over very well. If you want to grab plots from the show, that's one thing. But i wouldn't go much further. I think the news is a much better source for DC games. In the first game of my DC campaign the players had to "recover" the $112,000 a Catholic church reverend stole and gambled away. That came from an actual event that happened a few weeks ago.
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Re: Resource Pool Armory Questions
What happens when the police find out they have been killing people whom they say deserve to die? I assume by Dark Champions you mean vigilante game and the PD finding a cache of weapons is the least of the parties worries. Those weapons should mostly belong to gangbangers and mafia goons. Vigilante prints should not be on them.What happens when the police come across a cache of weapons they believe is owned by a rival gang that has been killing its rivals?
In your DC campaigns how often do the police know the vigilantes are good guys right off the bat?
Much of this depends on how you' date=' the DM, design the campaign standards. If players are 75 + 75 then asking them to pay for anything that resides in the real/vigilante world is probably asking too much. On the other hand, if they are 350 points then allowing a RP -- or anything for free -- is probably being too nice.[/quote']It's a 100/100 game with 60 points for a kit 90 points for a starting armory. I thought that was plenty, but one of the players is trying to milk it for what it's worth. And I think it's being to approach abuive level.
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Re: Resource Pool Armory Questions
We have used the Equipment Pools for some time in all three Dark Champions campaigns. The armory gets whatever we happen to find be that a bazooka or a phaser. We do keep track of odd' date=' unique, hard to purchase, or extremely powerful weapons but once we have made a few gangland take downs keep track is a waste of time. You have all the street guns that you could ever use. You still need to go find the NICO grenade if you want one but an AK?[/quote']Except where would the players keep their armory? And what happens when law enforcement finds out they have enough firepower to start a war (or a gang finds out they have all these weapons)?
Second part - the Equipment Rules are for equipment. If it is built with a MPP then the MPP goes in the pool. A police vest is a MPP' date=' you wouldn't forbid a police vest would you? If you don't want certain weapons in the game then disallow them and never introduce them as weapons carried by NPCs.[/quote']I wouldn't disallow the slots in the police vest to be bought individually. The Vest is armor plus a multipower and is much like a utility belt. Well like a utility belt except that it doesn't have 20 slots. Since RPs are so cheap I do feel that allowing MPs are abusing the rules. I treat it a bit like a Gadget VPP and one of the VPP rules is No Multipowers.
The Equipment rules give a mechanic to' date=' "you can't run around the city with the Punisher's entire arsenal strapped to your back." It works good but occasionally bumps its head against common sense. The old "Duct Tape" canard. I'd highly recommend the RP rules but don't leave common sense at home.[/quote']Gamers and common sense?
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Who puts limits on how big a Resource Pool armory can be? My reading of the rules is that initially the armory is 1.5 times the size of the kit (60/90). But after the first game session, there is no limit unless the GM mandates one. So I'm wondering why have an initial limit?
I can understand keeping the armory pool limited to prevent the PCs from acquiring mountains of stuff. How successful have other GMs been in keeping the equipment pool from being turned into Vigilante Warehouse of Lots o' Stuff?
Are there also armories for Contact Pools? I can't see that since contacts are people you know and you can't put that in an armory.
Thank you
{additional} Does anyone allow Multipowers to be put in Equipment Pools? That just seems abusive IMHO. I picture the Resource Pools to be like the spiritual cousins of Variable Power Pools. And in VPP no multipowers are allowed. I have a player who's character has a large Utility Belt in her equipment pool which includes the different types of darts and pellets. I think that's far too specialized for what the EP is meant for. What do you think?
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Re: Protection against the mooks
good point narratio btw how is that pronounced?If I had to guess it's nar (rhymes with tar) ra (the cheer) tio (like the nick name).
Thanks for the suggestions. As a player I wanted my characters to be nigh-invulurnable. As a GM, I see what a pain that can be.
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I'm starting a DC campaign and one of the players wants to buy up defense because "I just don't want to get creamed by joe shmoe." It's understandable. No one wants to be taken out by the cannon fodder. But IMHO that's part of the risk and appeal in DC. When you're dealing with ordinary people, anyone attacking you is a threat. It doesn't matter if they're a wannbe gangbanger looking for some respect or a trained assassin. Am I wrong? Does anyone else have this problem and how do you deal with it?
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Re: GMs how did you bring the PCs together?
I think the point of this idea is that HoJ is dead. 100%' date=' here's the body, yeah he's really, dead.[/quote']There's no such thing as 100% dead in comics. If someone liked him existed, I wouldn't believe he was dead until at least 5 years without a sighting after the "death".
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Re: GMs how did you bring the PCs together?
same here if a known lethal vigilante is risking sending his files no non-leathal heroes he MUST be down and out or calling his carrer a dayI agree. It's a great idea, but something similar has been done with Libra. Not that recycling the idea is a bad thing. Unless all the PCs have backgrounds and personality he thinks he can mold to his image I can't see it happening unless he was desperate. Plus what happens if the PCs are completely new? How will the HoJ even know about them? I'll keep that idea in mind until the players send me their character concepts.
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Re: GMs how did you bring the PCs together?
Welcome aboard moquif, You present a tough question. First you need to Brainstorm with your players about what kind of Campaign the Players want to Play in and you want to GM.Once that is decided Brainstorm with your Players about what kind of character they want to play. Knowing what role that everyone is playing and what their shtick is can help you work out how to bring them together.
One way to bring the PCs together is to have their Enemies/Targets joining forces. In which case the PCs are drawn by their own interests together to defeat a foe more powerful than they could ever defeat alone.
Another way is to have a mutual acquaintance (a Contact, a Arms Dealer, or a Government Agent) offer to put the PC together with other of like interests.
Your first adventure should also set the theme down for how the rest of the Campaign will progress. Your Players and you the GM guide the Campaign together.
Vigilante - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigilante#In_comic_books
Espionage - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Espionage_television_series
Actually I have a poll for the players that I was getting a peer review here.
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66429
I tried to set up a campaign setting but I realized I would need to get the group's input. I'm going to post the poll to the group and get their opinion and describe their character. From that point I'll set up the campaign.
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I'm working on my own campaign and I'm looking for ideas on how to bring the PCs together initially. Unfortunately I don't have any details about the campaign ironed out, about all I can say is that the PCs should be normal people who go out and fight crime to make life better in The City. The "why" is still up in the air. So how did you GMs do it?
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Re: Vigilante Campaign Settings
Where? I suggest you use some place better known' date=' or just give a size[/quote']All the players live in Chicagoland so we know the size of Oak Park. And if the campaign actually takes place in Chicagoland, then Magnifico will actually BE half of Oak Park (it's at the end of one of the L-lines and the west line commute train goes through it.
What is the second moon?Cruithne. Maybe not so much of a moon but an asteroid that sort of shares our orbit. It's nicknamed Earth's second moon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruithne
I used the rest of your suggestions. "bad luck curses" sounds much more fitting, don't you think?
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Re: Vigilante Campaign Settings
I redid the sections for lethality and anomalies:
Lethality
How easy is it for the PCs to die or be seriously wounded in combat?
1. Combat is a level playing field. The PCs can die just as easily as anyone else.
2. Death is a rare event reserved for dramatic climaxes (and changing characters).
3. Death shouldn’t happen but a PC can be seriously wounded resulting in an extended hospital stay.
4. Occasionally a PC will have to take it easy and avoid combat for a few sessions to recover from wounds.
5. A Deux Ex Machina restores the PCs to nigh-perfect health between sessions.
...
Things that go bump in the night
Does the supernatural or superscience exist in the campaign world?
This is a catch-all of everything paranormal from psionics to voodoo magic to aliens (both from outer space and other dimensions). I would like to have the PCs only buy super-skills and not pure powers or spells. Also if the antagonists can harm the PCs then they can be harmed by the PCs. No threat will have Desolid and rolling a 3 on the Hit Location chart will ruin anyone’s day no matter if they’re a werewolf, Evil Nazi Robot (patent pending), or PC. The first four Batman movies provide a nice framework for most of the scale.
1. Everyone is a regular human (insane or disfigured or has wonderful toys but still human)
2. Minor mutants with unusual limited abilities (Penguin’s deformity and ability to “control” penguins)
3. Weird science (E. Nygma’s box that let’s him read people’s minds)
4. Low-powered superhumans (Bane, Mr.Freeze, Poison Ivy)
5. Urban Fantasy where the paranormal is common and part of society (in this case, the PCs will be permitted to buy superhuman abilities)
This scale will be applied with respect to several aspects listed below. For each sub-category, the 1-5 scale will be applied with 1 meaning “none” and 5 meaning “very common”. In some cases the 1-5 scale may not be the best tool in which case a description can be used in its place.
Magic/Psi/Paranormal
This includes all aspects of the supernatural: forgotten or new gods, rare psychic talents, astrologers, past life experiences, bad luck cleansing rituals, real magic, and more. A rating of a 4 or 5 would have adventures that could potentially take on a more metaphysical slant as the PCs try to figure out how to fight a dualistic god of consumerism (no one gets through life without consuming). A lower rating could have something that is less epic in scale, such as stopping the spread of a variety of the drug Angel-Dust which is cocaine mixed with dust made from actual angels.
Alien/Superhuman
Not the people in the city are human. Some may be from a planet orbiting a sun on the other side of the galaxy or from the 5th dimension or a monster that would give Lovecraft nightmares or a mutant that puts them above humanity. There will be limits to keep the campaign from becoming comic book superhero style. Is the latest wave of missing homeless caused by a hungry alien animal or a dimensional lord seeking new slaves? The high end of scale would be like the MiB films and animated series.
SCIENCE!
This is where you find weird technologies created by borderline insane scientists delving into Things Man Was Not Meant to Know. A high rating here would have cybernetics, forced mutations, and other experiments that pervert the laws of nature in the pure pursuit of knowledge. These scientists are more concerned with proving their theories and being recognized than with public safety. They would try and create a fully aware electronic intelligence out of the Internet or find out what are the socio-economic-political effects of giving away several tons worth of illegal drugs in a well-off neighborhood.
Anomalies
This is the “other” in the “other” category; things that are too unusual for anything else. A rating of 2 could have Magnifico, the city of malls, a collection of enclosed complexes and parking garages half the size of Oak Park. With a rating of 4, the PC’s headquarters may be a floating castle in a tesseract reached by walking through a doorway while shifting yourself half a second out of phase with the universe. At the highest level, Atlantian artifacts would be in every good museum in the world, Earth would have a third phantom moon, the Bermuda Triangle would be well defined with warning buoys, the UN would have recently sent a peacekeeping force to the Amazon rainforest to destroy the last known active Nazi fortress, and a herd of woolly mammoths would migrate across Siberia every year.
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Re: Vigilante Campaign Settings
Ah. In that case' date=' reverse the order of #2 through #4. Right now it goes Worst, Pretty Good, OK, Bad, Terrific. Which doesn't make much sense.
[/quote']I believe you misread. I think that "PC death is a rare event" goes between "PC death is a common event" and "PCs shouldn't die". 3, 4, and 5 deal with PCs being seriously wounded. In any case I need to be clearer about PCs being dead vs PCs being seriously wounded.
I'm in a pulp game where my PC has spent about half the campaign being at half BODY or less making that campaign between a 3 and 4.
I'd drop "esoteric" as its connotations don't fit science' date=' even Weird Science, very well. I'd also change the 2nd sentence to begin "This covers cybernetics,...."[/quote']"Esoteric" means "understood only by a select few" and that does fit into Weird Science. Remember the archtype Evil Scientist who claims those fools at the university don't understand his brilliance?
I appreciate all the feedback. My writing skills are not what they should be. I find it disappointing that people at work are telling me I have problems communicating. I do want to write more as a hobby and I do write session summaries of the superhero campaign I am in. If I'm having problems communicating, I need to fix that. I think part of the problem is that I assume the reader knows what I'm talking about. It's like half my thoughts stay in my head and never make it to the page.
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Re: Vigilante Campaign Settings
And at last' date=' someone comes along to comment on the proposed questionaire rather than answer it![/quote']Thank you. That's what I'm looking for.
Under "Lethality' date='" #1 and #5 should be switched.[/quote']Why? I tried to get the 1 to 5 scale to be 1 means things like "none" or "pessimistic" with 5 being "very common" or "optimistic". With Lethality being killed is pessimistic and being at top health is optimistic. At least I think it is. Being killed is very bad. Ask almost anyone.
Under "Magic/..." I think "bad luck cleansing rituals," should be "bad luck, cleansing rituals,"In the same paragraph: "Or something less epic scale as stopping the spread of a new kind of the drug angel dust made from the dust of angels." Um,... HUH? Needs total re-write.
The cleansing ritual is to get rid of the bad luck.
Would this sound better? "Or something that is less epic in scale, such as stopping the spread of a variety of the drug angel dust made from the dust of actual angels."
Under "SCIENCE!" "That Man Was Not Meant to Know" shoulde be either "What Man Was Not Meant to Know" or "That Which Man Was Not Meant to Know"Same place: "or find out what the ... effects of ..." should be either "or find out what the ... effects of ... are" or ""or find out what are the ... effects of ..."
Is this better? "This is where you find weird technologies created by esoteric scientists delving into Things Man Was Not Meant to Know. There would be cybernetics, forced mutations, and other experiments that bend the laws of nature in the pure pursuit of knowledge. These scientists are more concerned with proving their theories and being recognized than with public safety. They would try and create a fully aware electronic intelligence out of the Internet or find out what are the socio-economic-political effects of giving away several tons worth of illegal drugs in a well-off neighborhood."
I think the 1-5 scale questions are fine' date=' but I find the others a bit unclear as to what you're looking for. Do you want responders to copy&paste the ones they want or don't want, or do you want them to give a sentence or two describing their likes & dislikes on the subject? I'd advise a bit of rewriting to clarify what you're looking for.[/quote']When finished, this poll will be sent to my players to fill out. I posted it here to get feedback to find out what parts are good, bad, or needs changing. If they want to fill it out, that's fine. If other GMs want to use this poll for their own players, that's fine too. The only other thing I'd like to make clear is that the "Things that go bump in the night" 1-5 scale will be applied individually to the four sub-areas. A play may want a 4 in Science! and a 2 in Magic.
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I'm working on a DC campaign setting for my gaming group. Before I get too far into it, I want to poll the players and find out what they want/expect in such a game. I put together this questionnaire with scales from 1 to 5 with extremes on both ends (a little tongue in cheek). Since the players have different interests and preferences, I divided the "superpowers" section into separate aspects. I'm looking for a peer review for anything I missed or suggestions. If you like it, swipe it!
Dark Champions Campaign Poll
Relationship With Authorities
How do the PCs want to be treated by law enforcement (at first)?
1. Dangerous criminals to be actively hunted down and arrested (or killed)
2. Criminal nuisance who should be arrested if the opportunity presents itself
3. Glory hounds who make the real police look bad (but do the dangerous work)
4. Unofficial allies who give the police a much needed hand
5. Sanctioned members of law enforcement and our brothers/sisters in arms
Relationship With Public
How do the PCs want to be treated by the public (at first)?
1. Worse than the criminals they fight
2. About as bad as the gangs
3. A necessary evil
4. As good as the cops
5. Every Christmas Walmart runs out of “Harbinger of Justice” action figures
Lethality
How easy is it for the PCs to die in combat? Or be seriously wounded?
1. Level playing field, PCs can die just as easily as anyone else.
2. A rare event reserved for dramatic climaxes (and changing characters)
3. Shouldn’t happen but a PC can be put in the hospital for a while
4. Occasionally a PC will have to take it easy for a few sessions to recover from wounds.
5. Deux Ex Machina restores the PCs to nigh-perfect health between fights
Outlook
Who can be trusted? Can the world be changed?
1. The best you can do is slow the descent to the 10th level of hell
2. Keeping the status quo will be a struggle.
3. Everyone has their own agenda. All depends on who can advance theirs.
4. The PCs are a part of a larger plan to lift mankind from the muck
5. The PCs are the saviors of civilization as we know it
Seriousness
How realistic should the campaign be including how the PCs act?
1. The fallout from an adventure has severe negative unintended consequences
2. A bad blunder can change the course of the campaign for months
3. Minor mistakes are soon forgiven and likely forgotten too
4. Things blow over quickly
5. Cities can be destroyed and rebuilt in a week, tops! And no one notices.
Things that go bump in the night
Does the supernatural or superscience exist in the campaign world?
This is a catch-all of everything paranormal from psionics to voodoo magic to aliens (both from outer space and other dimensions). I would like to have the PCs only buy super-skills and not pure powers or spells. Also if the antagonists can harm the PCs then they can be harmed by the PCs. No threat will have Desolid and rolling a 3 on the Hit Location chart will ruin anyone’s day no matter if they’re a werewolf, Evil Nazi Robot (patent pending), or PC. The first four Batman movies provide a nice framework for most of the scale.
1. Everyone is a regular human (insane or disfigured or has wonderful toys but still human)
2. Minor mutants with unusual limited abilities (Penguin’s deformity and ability to “control” penguins)
3. Weird science (E. Nygma’s box that let’s him read people’s minds)
4. Low-powered superhumans (Bane, Mr.Freeze, Poison Ivy)
5. Urban Fantasy where the paranormal is common and part of society (in this case, the PCs will be permitted to buy superhuman abilities)
This scale will be applied with respect to several aspects listed below. The 1-5 scale may not be the best tool in which case a description will do in place.
Magic/Psi/Paranormal
This includes all aspects of the supernatural: forgotten or new gods, rare psychic talents, astrologers, past life experiences, bad luck cleansing rituals, real magic, and more. Adventures could potentially take on a more metaphysical slant as the PCs try to figure out how to fight a dualistic god of consumerism (no one gets through life without consuming) for example. Or something less epic scale as stopping the spread of a new kind of the drug angel dust made from the dust of angels.
Alien/Superhuman
Not the people in the city are human. Some may be from a planet orbiting a sun on the other side of the galaxy or from the 5th dimension or a monster that would give Lovecraft nightmares or a mutant that puts them above humanity. There will be limits to keep the campaign from becoming comic book superhero style. Is the latest wave of missing homeless caused by a hungry alien animal or a dimensional lord seeking new slaves?
SCIENCE!
Weird technologies from esoteric scientists delving into That Man Was Not Meant to Know. There would be cybernetics, forced mutations, bending the laws of nature in the pure pursuit of knowledge. These scientists are more concerned with proving their theories and being recognized than with public safety. They would try and create a fully aware electronic intelligence out of the Internet or find out what the socio-economic-political effects of giving away several tons worth of illegal drugs in a well-off neighborhood.
Anomalies
This is the “other” in the “other” category; things that are too unusual for anything else. Here would be Magnifico, the city of malls, a collection of enclosed complexes and parking garages half the size of Oak Park. The PC’s headquarters may be a floating castle in a tesseract reached by walking through a doorway while shifting yourself half a second out of phase with the universe.
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Re: Grond + Eclipse = 2 Gronds?
Simple. The GM laughs ... evilly.
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Re: help flushing out skills for Teen Champ Character.
Since she speaks French, I'd include KS French History AK France KS French Culture all at 8- (or 11- if you give her Scholar and/or Traveler). I'd also add KS related to her TF (KS horse shows, AK hand gliding areas, etc). There aren't many skills that don't have a complimentary skill.
For a more normal girl KS Boy Bands, KS School Cliches. Ultimate Skill talks about dividing Seduction into romantic and friend skills. In this light I'd remove Seduction and replace it with a skills like Charm (for friends) and Flirt (for boys). Oh and let's not forget AK internet.
As for how many skills a 14 year old should have, I don't think we should be as concerned about the number of skills but the skill level. An 8- could be justified by paying attention in a class, an after-school activity, or watching an educational program every night. Also remember the power of hobbies. If the skill level remains low (little beyond basic knowledge), there shouldn't be a problem.
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Re: Good ways to play champions via the internet?
I've had a game going using a friend's Ventrillo account for more than a year now. Its worked well and we play fast and loose with the movement rules' date=' haven't drawn up a map yet.[/quote']I'm in one too except it takes too dang long to adjust Ventrillo. It's amazing how many good dice rolls players get when the GM isn't there.
(jk) But the GM comes to my house for the internet connection so I'm screwed. -
Re: Some questions about Stronghold
I haven't read the entire book yet, but wouldn't technological items simply be put in storage (or returned to their rightful owners like the Anklesaur (sp) armor)? If a criminal uses gadgets/guns/armor then the authorities would just take those items and put the criminal into a normal prison. They wouldn't be sent to Stronghold because it's not warranted (unless they are dangerous enough or have an innate power that would make escape from a normal prison too easy).
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Re: So, How do you take over organised crime in Huson City?
Clonus has a good idea. For my own two cents I suggest making an alliance with a rival boss's lieutenant and have him wack his boss in return for running his new turf. Repeat until you have enough new bosses in your back pocket to make a move on the ones you can't take down this way.
Oh and blackmail is always useful. Even if you don't use it or reveal you have it, it's a good back up in case one of your new puppets decides to strike out on his own. Plus it's a great plot hook for the PCs. (The new capo will tell them what they want to know if they can destroy the blackmail evidence.)
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Re: Beefing up Villians
Fight smarter not harder. A well organized team of Viper agents can beat a team of superheroes without resorting to cowardly tactics like hiding in a crowd and holding hostages.
Have them stagger their phases by holding actions. Then have the team work together. In your example Biohazard entangles a hero, Strong Guy does haymaker, while the other two keep the rest of the heroes busy (AE attacks, entangle walls, etc). If they have the same speed by staggering phases they can attack more frequently to force the heroes on the defensive. Even delaying the heroes an extra phase can make a difference.
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Re: Actor Package Deals
Richard Dean Anderson
+3 INT
+2 PER rolls
Powerful Contact
+10 PRE Defense Only
2d6 Luck
Distinctive Feature: Deadpan humor
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Re: HCPD - The 13th District (Campaign Idea)
I'm looking for any ideas for filling out the staff that makes up the 13th District' date=' from patrol officers and detectives to the support staff, or any suggestions for plotlines.[/quote']I skimmed over the thread and I haven't seen much for staff suggestions. How about a necromancer (or voodoo priest or priestess) who's an ME (medical examiner). I think a mage archtype who's usually evil serving justice is pretty distinctive. I can also imagine some kind of seers being a part of CSI. You'd have to take steps to be sure these people don't spoil any mysteries though.
If anyone has Unluck it can take the form of the wee folk causing trouble. And as per folklore no one else ever sees them. The janitor can be an immortal troll or other nonhuman.
If HCPD 13D is to keep the supernatural secret that should take care of some of the problems. A ghost can't testify in court and a seer would be laughed out of it. Sure the PCs may KNOW how the crime happened, but being able to prove it using mundane means is the problem.
Numb3rs
in Dark Champions
Posted
Re: Numb3rs
Do you think the players will like having their butts saved by an NPC when they get stuck?