Tom

A rash assumption on both parts. Though admittedly, a police officer spends a lot of time learning how to properly fill out reports.

Both saw what they expected to see.

Re: A starship as a PC for Galactic Champions For ideas: The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey Path of the Fury by David Weber The Starwolves by Thorarinn Gunnarsson Making it playable is a whole 'nuther kettle o' fish...

Re: Converting Skyrim to Fantasy Hero ... any thoughts? I'll admit to using Skyrim for a certain amount of inspiration in my current (sporadic) efforts at doing a FH game (I'm much more familiar with Champions). Making it match perfect is probably more effort than it's worth, but the 'feel' should be doable. Hero already lends itself to 'classless' gaming. Reduce the classic 'mage', 'cleric', 'fighter', 'rogue' archtypes to 'mage', 'warrior', 'rogue' (think the Guardian Stones). Merge clerics into mage (Skyrim already seems to do this, imo)... I am currently planning on emulating the magic with a VPP setup. This is the base VPP any character can buy and costs 5 RPts. Magical Talent: Variable Power Pool (Magic Pool), 3 base + 10 control cost, Limited Special Effect Very Common SFX (Magic; -1/4); all slots Increased Endurance Cost (x4 END; -1 1/2), Gestures (-1/4) Incantations and material components don't play any role in Skyrim magic, but binding the character's hands prevent casting. Since spells can be found and purchased the same as any other equipment, having a PC (especially one used to Skyrim -- my kids will be my vic... errr.. playtesters) spend XP on spells will feel alien. Building the size of the VPP and reducing the increased END Lim will be at least conceptually similar to buying up Magika and spending perks. A couple of starter spells (emulating the common pair in the game): Flames: RKA 1/2d6 (10 Active Points); Limited Range (15m; -1/4) Self Healing: Healing BODY 1d6 (10 Active Points); Self Only (-1/4) Both spells will fit in the base VPP w/o modification.

Re: Alternative Necromancy iirc, one of the necromancers in the Dresden novel "Dead Beat" offered a very similar rationalization for the study.

Re: Herocentral Dan hasn't brought HC back up while still dealing with the server issues. He mentions it on the 'anatomy of a crash' thread on the NGD board.

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities Too impersonal...

Re: Cool Guns for your Games Check your local hunting regulations to start. The plug is typically there to meet waterfowl requirements.

Re: Cool Guns for your Games Well, this isn't 'quite' a zip gun -- but only just...

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities What makes you think you're twisting anything around? I do not trust people I do not know as a matter of course. Man or woman has nothing to do with it. We all have Internet connections here -- which means we've all gotten the emails promising us money, or asking us to follow links to this that or something else. Guess what. This happens in the real world too. Happens all the time, and has been happening for a long time. Hansel and Gretal is just a literary way of saying "come here little girl (boy), I've got some candy..." Not everyone is a crap-sack. The world is full of decent people you can safely be alone with. But the world also has some people that you will never be able to trust, that you will never be able to change. The scary part is you probably be able to tell who is which until you ARE alone with them.

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities The only people we can change are ourselves. Not every Man believes 'no' really means 'yes', or that rape (or any other crime of violence) is acceptable. Insisting that other people change is a species past time, and we've been at each other's throat pretty much forever (for certain values of 'forever') trying to force those changes. Hasn't worked out so well, has it? Many things have changed, some even for the better, and the struggle to shape norms is worthwhile. But even if successful, those changes will not happen overnight and there will still be exceptions who do not accept or follow those norms. Which drops responsibility for our own safety right back on ourselves. I don't see this as blaming the victim -- it's only common sense. YMMV

Re: Cool Guns for your Games H&k vp70? (and why can't I make the letters all caps? Do I blame the boards or Apple? )

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life. I recall a similar conversation when the satcom went down and we were the squadron flagship. The escalating rank/assigment of people asking me when it would be fixed finally stopped when I pointed out "I'd figure it out a whole lot faster if I didn't have to keep stopping to tell people that I wouldn't know until I isolated what the problem was in the first place."

Re: Cool Guns for your Games Lyman also makes (made?) a full sized single-stage press that is quite portable {link}. It's embarrassing that I can't recall the model number, since I've got one in my basement. It uses standard dies, so I can't see any reason why it wouldn't handle .30-06.

Re: Cool Guns for your Games If you've access to reloading equipment, sub-powered loads are probably your best bet. Your next best bet is probably 'barking' the target. The idea is to shoot just close enough that the impact of the round stuns the target (usually a squirrel) and it falls to the ground where the shooter finishes it off. Whether or not this is really possible is subject to debate, however, anything the GM lets you get away with is legal.

Re: Cool Guns for your Games Generally speaking, it takes two hands to reload a pistol/revolver. It can be done one handed, but is awkward and there is no real way around that. Lara Croft had some sort of speed-load system in the Tomb Raider movie which could certainly be used in a cinematic game (I don't believe it exists real world, but I wouldn't rule it out either) Otherwise, most likely method for reloading without dropping the shield would probably involve dropping the empty magazine and then holding the pistol by the slide with the hand controlling the shield (I'm assuming it is possible to at least hold the pistol without dropping it while still having you hand in the carry strap) and then loading the fresh magazine into the butt with your strong hand.

Re: Cool Guns for your Games You might be thinking of the 40mm bofors gun. It was available in twin and quad mounts. http://www.inert-ord.net/usa03a/usa5/40mm/index.html

Re: OT: Anyone try out STO FTP yet? I was shocked to discover I can actually run it on my machine. I get a message telling me my graphics card is pathetic by gamer standards, but it allows me to run it at reduced settings. I haven't done much past the tutorial, but my notoriously short attention span for video games hasn't cut in yet. (course, it's Trek and I'm in the mood for some sci fi -- on the down side, I'm not on 'vacation' anymore and work has a wonderful way of draining all my available brain cells)

Re: Star Fleet Battles Starships I believe the actual combat was sublight (though, iirc, some late tech fighters could exceed c in N space), but yes -- the main weapons on higher tech heavy craft had ridiculous reach. I believe the SFX was a combination of the old EE 'Doc' Smith 'Primary' beams combined with transporter bombs (using warp technology). The ship warp-ported an anti-matter explosion at its intended target. I may have to dig out my old books at some point to check... (in my first Champs game, the GM used Space Opera rules anytime things went into space)

Re: PBEM or Message Board Games? Not sure what's open at the moment, but you might want to keep an eye on herocentral.net. Games are frequently starting or have openings as a general rule.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. So her costume qualifies as a tactical advantage...

Re: Cool Guns for your Games True -- and since they usually 'don't' (bother to read the warnings/instructions), they usually 'do' (something stupid)...

Re: Cool Guns for your Games Yes, well I'm fairly sure 'carabiners' intended for novelty purposes don't meet the applicable safety standards and that it probably hasn't occurred to any number of people that just because something 'looks' real doesn't mean it 'is' real.

Re: Cool Guns for your Games iirc, it was supposed to allow the guy with the MG to keep shooting if the unit ran out of linked ammo. You could load the standard rifle mags and stay in business. (From Wolf's post, it apparently didn't work so well -- though, also iirc, the 5.56mm rounds used for the M-16 weren't as hot as the rounds intended for the M-249. The 249 was supposed to have an adjustable gas port though, presumably to allow for this detail, which the 16 lacked. Naturally, the ammo wasn't completely interchangeable between weapons)