GoldenAge

I have a new character in Epic City (see sig) whose main power is to Detect Evil. Now, the power seems to fit the concept. He's a priest, so I guess he has the ability to look deeply into one's soul to determine a person's true nature (if it's EVIL). Okay, Epic City is a campaign fraught with shades of gray. On any occasion a person (and often heroes) can manifest evil (be it through thoughts, intentions or actions). To understand a person's true nature in such a black and white context seems ludicrous to me. Now, add to that the potential campaign ruining strength of such a simple detect. In almost every circumstance where a person is hiding an evil intent the OC would immediately root out the potential for deception. Take the scene from The Dark Knight where the hostages were really agents and the agents disguised hostages... No fun now because it's obvious to the character with a simple Detect Evil that the hostages are... well, evil. So many more clever ruses could so easily be uncovered. Is this worse (better?) than Telepathy? Am I thinking too hard about this, or is there real potential for this power to ruin a campaign (or, at the very least, make the GM too often contrive ways to make it fail)???

Re: Show Me Your Robots! Well, our heroes really are heroes so they'll do much better with things that can be KOed... Also, if they do prove to be too tough, its much easier to dumb down than smarten up. If you're interested, you can find pics of the 30 GABLES and STELLAR FORCE... HERE & HERE

Re: Show Me Your Robots! Roomba Rocks!!!

Re: Show Me Your Robots! I'd love to see versions of all these:

Re: Show Me Your Robots! Whisper is safe, these are scheduled to ruin the day of the 30 Gables and Stellar Force at ZARCON 14.

Re: Show Me Your Robots! tease!!!!!

Re: Show Me Your Robots! Great start guys!!! Does anyone have anything similar to Marvel's Phalanx?

I need robots... Lots of robots!!! From the Terminator to the Matrix Sentinels, from H.E.R.B.I.E. to Number 5 or from the Manhunters to Ultron!!! I want to see them all! (I need help! 5th or 6th edition, it doesn't matter)

Re: Superhero Images Latest HAYMAKER! cover. Not too complicated, but fun. "GROND LUV ROCK n' ROLL!!!"

Re: A Thread for Random Videos amazing!

Re: Fantasy Art Thread Cuts down on splinters.

Re: Space the final frontier

Re: Space the final frontier I always wanted an ISC SSCSX!!!

Re: Space the final frontier I think you missed the second part of my statement - that you actually quoted : In fact, in the novel "Homecoming" the character Henry Bates, a holographic-rights sympathizer, creates a functionally equivalent emitter about the size of a briefcase on Earth using Earth tech. So it's possible without 29th century technology, it just needs further refinement. It's canon... As for disabeling Planet Killers, Alien Traps and other stuff... Of COURSE THEY DO! They're the protagonists! If they don't, the show ends. Emitters were placed planetside so that the holograms could live out their existence on their new world.... Not the weekend. There's no reason that their scope couldn't be broadened. There was never any concern about power outages/shortages. A simple (and small) dilithium crystal matrix would keep the projectors viable for years. Remember, this wouldn't be a weekend science project... It would be an advanced world's (empire's?) answer for war, backed by huge funding. There WOULD be advancements. Oh c'mon. I already mentioned shielding, ECM, ECCM and stealth tech. Given years (and dozens of their own Toreseseses/Datas/awesome engineers), I'm certain an advanced society could make these new emitters nigh impossible to hack. And I'm also talking about peppering a target with dozens of redundant systems. If they worked on an encoded, modulating frequency it'd be nigh impossible to knock them all out. So now, you're in the business too?? Hahaha! Again, this is a war device. Modulating frequencies, ECM, ECCM, stealth tech, shielding, etc. etc... If it were that easy to take them out they'd have been able to shut down The Doctor whenever they wanted... But when he was wearing his emitter, they couldn't. He even offered to give Janeway the emitter as a form of self punishment (Janeway said no. She was cool that way). True, but the answer is a matter/anti-matter reaction regulated by a dilithium crystal matrix. The devices need only be as big as a ship's core, probably much smaller (a Constitution-class starship's core is only as big as a shuttle - as seen when jettisoned or towed - TOS: "That Which Survives"; TNG: "Cause and Effect"; VOY: "Cathexis", "Day of Honor", "Renaissance Man"; Star Trek; VOY: "Renaissance Man"). 12.5 metric tons of slush Deuterium keeps a starship running for 3 years (oh, and a 12.5 metric ton container is similar in size to a natural gas tank - much smaller than a shuttle). These emitters could last quite long and be very small indeed. Well, this happened at least 3 times (Tores/Nelix/Whorf). On one occasion the process happened very fast (life or death weighing in the balance (replacing Neelix's lungs). Sure they were ALL plot devices... Just like the main protagonists saving the day every time (but you didn't have a problem pointing that out earlier). I think you're missing the entire exercise here. Hologram tech, given the proper attention by an advanced civilization, could be developed to astounding levels quite quickly (based on a preponderance of the amazing things already being done with it in Star Trek canon). And it would look hellacool!!!!!! Cheap trick??? You mean a weapon of mass destruction, right? And stop talking about the "main cast". We know they will always win, even against 50th century end-of-days technology. Oh, and they DO beam torpedos, right? It's one of my favorite tactics in Star Fleet Battles. I think you missed my intention (or I wasn't clear). The "clones" would simply be new projections or independent holograms with autonomous control programs (multiple The Doctors acting as a Seal Team if you must) stemming from a single emitter. This would reduce the number of personal emitters (if personal emitters were even needed). If each hologram were projected wearing its own (fake) emitter (or better yet, they were all carrying concealed decoy emitters) then it might prove quite difficult to take the team down by targeting the real emitter. Just another FUN idea.

Re: Space the final frontier Hogwash. There are multiple examples in Voyager that show otherwise (eg. The Doctor's Mobile Emitter - In fact, in the novel "Homecoming" the character Henry Bates, a holographic-rights sympathizer, creates a functionally equivalent emitter about the size of a briefcase on Earth using Earth tech. So it's possible without 29th century technology, it just needs further refinement.) As far as holographic weapons go... How many times have we seen the Holodeck's safety protocols disabled and the true lethality of holographic weapons displayed. As long as you're in the field, you're vulnerable! Again... A Delta Quadrant species, known as the Lokirrim, had enslaved holograms, known as "photonics" to them. They rebelled, leading to a war between the two sides (Voyager: "Body & Soul"). If power were a problem it would have been a simple thing to quell the Photonic rebellion... but I assume it wasn't. Holograms also fought in hand-to-hand and blaster battles in Voyager (Voyager: "Photons Be Free") and were much stronger and more proficient than all the "meaty" races they faced. Torres was actually able to enhance their hologram emitters on the fly. Given time they could be developed to be regional, continental or even global in sway!!! Imagine a few dozen of these secretly transported onto, into or in orbit around a planet... Each emitter with shielding, ECM, ECCM and stealth tech. You may get lucky and find 2 or even 10, but all it takes is one and you have an army that can react globally at the speed of thought with any weapon imaginable. OUCH! In fact, holographic armies (or weapons) could be instantly coded and relocated to portable emitters anywhere (as far away as the other side of the galaxy - been done with The Doctor's program - from Delta to Alpha quadrant and back). Single enhanced emitters could even be configured to produce multiple holograms that could form tight fighting units. Shooting the hologram would only disrupt the field, not the hologram's program. Thus, your soldier could instantly reappear after "death". They wouldn't need to eat or sleep, could modify their visage and gear or (assuming the field reached) even alter the very environment... Yikes!!! And we haven't even begun talking about the holographic field projector's mysterious ability to project within a sentient mass. Yuck! It wouldn't take much to develop holographic tech to the point of sheer awesome. LONG LIVE THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT!!! Ahem, sorry

Re: Space the final frontier What about weaponizing the holo-emitters? There was a Voyager episode where they put a holographic lung in Neelix and a TNG where they kept Wharf alive by replacing his spine (and spinal column?) with a hologram... Imagine the possibilities of complex constructs insinuated within your oppositions body! Heck, you could probably holographically implant cerebral control devices and safely mind control their whole army, or implant stints that cause instant cardiac arrest, strokes or just blindness... And what about your own troops? Anything but a critical wound could be temporarily (permanently with enough power?) healed and maybe enhanced (or even project entire armies of holographic warriors and weapons???). What ever happened to those sentient holograms (photonics?) that once attacked Voyager? It'd end up being a cross between Green Lantern's power ring and the newest iterations of Adam Strange's Rannian hard-light plasma weapons. Cool! Anything you need right when you need it.

Re: Rogues...and Soldiers...and Assassins...and...Gallery (Dark Champions Art) How about some links to the DeviantArt artists that did these pieces. At least give them a little credit, I'm sure they would appreciate it.

Re: A Thread for Random Videos :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: I weep for the future... Thank goodness it's not in their hands!!!

Re: Space the final frontier I always liked the "transport the organs right outta ya" version, ala the Phage in Star Trek: Voyager, myself. But you have to admit... Star Trek holograms were awesome too. In that same Phage story the doc kept Nelix alive (after the Phage transported his lungs away) by projecting a pair of holographic lungs into his torso using Sickbay's holographic emitters.

Re: Space the final frontier Nice... That's basically how we did it when I began the NEMESIS campaign (see in my sig below). Players created one 375 point OC + One 250 point secondary character that was remanded over to the GM as an NPC but returned to the player if needed. This helped fill the ship with interesting personalities and allowed players whose OCs got killed or detained to continue play. Unfortunately, the last few times I started a game I didn't do this (the players were having a hard enough time creating their original characters). Every time we had a crucial absentee the group opted to wait for that player's return. The Captain actually missed 2 or 3 bi-monthly games in a row and I just cancelled the game and went back to Epic City. :-/

Re: Space the final frontier Isn't that Scotty???

Re: Wrath of God increasingly bad weather, copious rain then FLOODS!!! This would allow you as GM to have her powers manifest from afar as they reflect her mood. As things get emotionally worse for her so does the weather. Soon enough the water powers manifest (beginning as tears maybe?). Great for mood setting: dark ominous clouds, thunder and lightning, shafts of light falling upon her or other innocents (good guys?) as things get better and the cloud cover breaks. etc, I have a character like this in Epic City's Paladin Project: 7th Sign

Re: Space the final frontier You're missing it. Being a Lieutenant (or any other rank and file) doesn't make you a Helmsman. The loss of specific cogs in the Star Trek wheel can be hard to surmount. Hard, not impossible.

Re: Space the final frontier

Re: Space the final frontier Oh there are certainly work-arounds... But I've rune into this situation multiple times with completely different groups. The rigid nature of Star Fleet makes it harder... not impossible. You're better off knowing it's easier for these hiccups to happen in a Star Trek game than other genres going in.