gojira

Re: Leaping is persistant?

Re: Alternative Religions in Champions Campaigns Oops. Guess I don't read DC much.

Re: Alternative Religions in Champions Campaigns My default preference, when I'm playing (I'm not in an active campaign right now), is something that mirrors the genre. Usually that means God and Satan do not make a special appearence. God and the Big S don't show up in the comics much, if at all (I can't think of one appearence off hand. Well I'm sure the Big S has made a few.) If they did, what would be the point in the heroes (or anyone else) trying to do anything? It doesn't make sense to have an all-powerful, omnipotent entity in a campaign. I do like to have agents of God and The Big S around. Angels and devils fit right into a supers campaign. I also like to make agents and devils from some alternate dimension, so they could be just other beings, or they could be beings pretending to be angels and devils, or they could believe that they are angels and devils yet have no proof of any higher (or for devils, lower) power themselves. This allows *players* who want an agnostic character to have one ("Well, angels can be explained scientifically...") while players who want a religious character to have to rely on faith.

Re: [Newbie] Problem with Fixed Slot Multipower That's what I was refering to. Note this implies a costume change (Colossus doesn't change his clothes when he transforms) but since Armour is usually an actual physical thing, I thought it was appropriate. All based on assumed SFX, of course. And I'd thought that Instant Change had been moved to the more generic title of a Transform, but perhaps not.

Re: HERO Organization Logos Yes, good stuff. Rep for you!

Re: [Newbie] Problem with Fixed Slot Multipower Hi Andrea, good to see you again. The reason why armour shouldn't be inside the multipower is as a general rule 0 END powers shouldn't be in a power framework, and armour is a 0 END power. The GM can make exceptions of course. (I have old rules books, so this is what I've picked up from reading here. Maybe it's only ECs that have the 0 END rule. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong on that count.) What you probably should do is instead add a transform power to the multipower. You use your glue gun to "transform" into your hero persona. Then, outside the multipower, by armour with the 1/4 limitation "only in hero ID.". This way, you need to have your glue gun to change into your hero id. Maybe the special effect is that you smear glue all over yourself, which quickly hardens into "armour." If the villian takes away your glue gun, you can't transform (which makes sense). But, if you are already in your hero ID, and you loose your glue gun, your armour doesn't just disappear on the spot like fairy gold, which also makes sense. The way your power is written above by you, if you lose glue gun, your armour just vanishes, which is maybe not what you envisioned. Other than that, I think it's ok. If the special effect of clinging is using your glue gun "on all four" (both hands and feet) then it makes sense to put it into your multipower, as that would definately hinder your ability to shoot at the same time. If the special effect is that you spray glue on your feet, leaving your hands (and glue gun) free, then maybe it makes sense to put the clinging outside your multipower.

Re: How Much STR Do You Need... Well sorry for missing the mark then. I rather like the sillier stuff (the martial arts figure skating competition is hilarious) and since they all always seem to be really strong when they need to be, it didn't seem like they were pushing. (Plus, Shampoo is also hilarious and probably my favorite character, and she's REALLY strong.) In the manga, Ryoga pulls his handspring stunt with Ranma on his back. It's Ryoga first fight with Ranma, as a matter of fact; Ryoga's introduction to the manga. I can't recall where he does this handspring trick with Kuno (or his sister) on his back, so I guess the mana and the anime are different. Toodles.

Re: Russian Superheroes - Ideas and Comment Needed for 'Russian Dawn' game openings Russia used to be into developing ESP and TK type powers (back in the cold war). How about a ex-KGB Telepath? Super soldiers developed by the KGB might be good too, they might have TK powers in addition to being tough and strong. Don't forget good, old fashioned radiation accidents. Chernobyl dropped a lot of radiation around eastern europe.

Re: How Much STR Do You Need...

Re: I want to run a Bad Comics game This alone was worth the rep I just gave you.

Re: Relinking Figured Characteristics "Those who forget history are doomed to forever repeat it." George Santayana said that, I think.

Re: Relinking Figured Characteristics Right. It's genre re-inforcing to have Strength cost be too cheap. In a supers campaign, people are SUPPOSED to be super strong, so why not encourage it? Whereas for lower powered campaigns, I can see it being a problem. It's mainly the granularity problem I see, but maybe point cost is the core issue. GURPS, for example, charges about 10 points for +1 STR, maybe HERO should too. And sorry to misquote you. *STILL*, if people are having fun...

Re: Relinking Figured Characteristics Hmmm. I'm not playing actively in any HERO campaign right now. I'm here mostly for nostalgia. So I can't really comment on fine issues of balance because I'm not really up on my HERO stuff right now. I have to second The Emerged's opinion though. If people are having fun, why mess with it? Remember Fuzion? Minor suggestion: If it's really a balance issue for some genres (I can't see how it could be for Superheroes, I've played too much of that), why not just make this an optional rule for those genres?

Re: (Silliness But Interesting Dep't) Build an Alarm Clock! GM Fiat: for 5 points, you can have an alarm cloak. Happy?

Re: [Newbie] My first character

Re: Magic systems in Champions You know, this is a very good point. But the thing is, ALL super heroes are able to use the powers in wierd and unexpected ways, when the chips are down. Often they do it just by trying really hard, concetrating harder or longer, focusing, or by grimacing and sweating a lot. This is what the the rules seem to be simulating by allowing a super to "push" his attacks. A variable limitation would just give the super much more flexibility how his power may be pushed. I'm thinking now of adding a house rule that allows a variable advantage pool on any power, with GM's permission and subject to the rule: Only to Get Out of a Really Tight Jam.

Re: [Newbie] My first character Yick. Sorry but this needs lots of work. What is the character concept, by the way? Brick? Ranged blasting? Did you or the player work this out? Regardless I see some big problems. PD and ED is WAY TO LOW for a super. It's barely at an agent's level. Increase both to 15 to 25 each, depending on how tough he is supposed to be. Acrobatics is a good start but won't keep you out of trouble enough. CON and DEX are both very low for a super, CON should be 23 min and same with DEX, CON might be as high as 38 for someone really tough. 28 is a good CON for someone wearing a tough old armoured suit. Your SPD is too low for a super. Unless he is a slow brick (SPD 4), make his SPD 5, a good average number for a super. Other than that, the rest of the characteristics need a little work. Most people make primary chracteristics end in 3 or 8, which gets you the benefit of round off in the figured characteristics. STR usually ends in 0 or 5 so you don't have to worry about rolling half dice for damage--a convenience for the player. Your BOD, INT, COM and EGO seem a bit too high. Oh and put his darn glue powers in a multipower already.

Re: Do Actroids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Re: Do Actroids Dream of Electric Sheep? I have no idea. I personally would have guessed that it was just the unit and the box, because the Japanese can make *everything* really small, but there sure might be a mainframe or something hidden out of view. I figure we'll have replicants in just about 10 years, what do you think?

Re: Is Punisher the problem? Nope. It's Batman. ALL of his powers (except for martial arts) are "stuff." Batarangs, bat grapples, even the batmobile, it's all "real world stuff." Except it's not really. It's a super power. And it's for the most part it's stuff that no person could actually have. You want to give Gun Bunny an M240 LMG and several LAWs to lug around? Ok, join the military in real life and ask to be assigned a "secret mission" and oh yes you want to run around with this stuff in your "battle van." They didn't let you? Gosh son, I guess you're payin' points for that stuff then. I draw the line at paying points for flash lights and cell phones (except that they tend to get smooshed in super combat a lot). If you can buy it at WalMart, it's yours buddy. But everything else, including Lear jets and fast cars, is just a "special effect" of your character's wealth or whatever, and will go away once the super stuff starts flying. All in my own campaigns of course, and in my own opinion.

Do actroids dream of electric sheep?

Re: Magic systems in Champions I basically agree with you. Healing should be limited because it's not really in the genre. Cosmic VPPs should be limited to powerful NPCs, basically arch-mages who have forgotten more spells than most mages even know. (I don't remember seeing any healing at all five years ago, except for Wolverine and various baddies with regeneration. Healing in the super hero comics used to be a hospital bed and a whole lotta bandages. Or a character had "empathy" but that was really slow. Now Angel has healing powers--I blame EQ for popularizing the whole idea of a healer being essential to a group.) Beast Boy has a cosmic VPP, but he's limited to shapechange and even then to (mostly) normal animals. That's a pretty good limitation. Magic to me is just another origin story. Magic users have magical warding (FF), magic blasts of fire or mystic light or something (EB), maybe one other tricky atack (NND, Ego attack), and flight (flight). There's your basic mage right there, all in a nice EC framework. Player concept should rule, guarded only by a GM's keen sense of cheese. And I really like your Tolkien mage.

Re: Here on Earth-2: your evil counterpart! I met my evil twin once. All he did was watch TV and eat bon-bons and cruise the internet. I think he got his powers after being bitten by a radioactive spare tire. It was Not Nice.

Re: Got the Metal in the Meat Because requiring money to buy lots of cyberware means that any character who is very cybered would have to be very wealthy too. In a point system like HERO, characters can buy any level of wealth they want. If you are going to ditch certain perks, can't you just ditch certain cyber enhancements too? I'm not sure we are talking about the same thing here, I'm not really following your post.

Re: The Passing of a Legend.. Andre Norton Yeah, wow. I was a huge fan when I was 12-14 years old. I devoured all of her works that were present at the public library. Moon of Three Rings and The X Factor were two books that impressed me greatly as a young adult. RIP, Andre, you will be missed.