Midas

Re: Just thinking. A possible enemy of zombies. One of Howard's Solomon Kane stories dealt with this precise subject. The vampires only came out at night because the local vultures swarmed them during the day. Note, these were not gothic vampires, but more like ghouls FTR. However the point remains, the vultures knew a dead body when they spotted one, and attacked on sight, whether still moving or not. I always liked that idea, never had a chance to put it into practise though.

Re: Pulp Horror Adventure Idea Me knowledgeable about the mythos? Wait 'til Thoth Amon shows up. He'll straighten that misconception out immediately. I'm just a gamer standed for decades in rural Appalachia. It's not that bad, more Mayberry than Deliverance. However, For local reading, if you aren't interested in Field & Stream or four wheeling magazines, you won't find much in the local stores. So I amuse myself by reading scenarios for Hero and CofC. Your relative ignorance of the Mythos is -in this case:D - a good thing. The Cthuhlu Mythos has gotten a bit fossilized over the last couple of decades: The Mythos has far fewer monsters, but everybody has memorized the equiv of the D&D monster manual, and there are certain problems with "canon" use of this that or the other monster. Having the villian be a human using the GOOs is great. IMHO leave it at that, with maybe some minor monsters and spells, and never have the GOOs appear at all. Can't wait to read the write up, Midas

Re: Pulp Horror Adventure Idea Here's a curious coincidence: We watched the Firefly ep "Our Mrs. Reynolds" last night, speaking of working girl/con artists. Something I wanted to bring up in the other thread, are you doing Peterson Lovecraft, or Lumley Lovecraft? Peterson Lovecraft has been described as "Paranoia without the laughs," while Lumley could be described as "Randolph Carter meets John Carter." IOW are you going for body count (horror), or Victory Against The Unstopable? Even if it's a MacGuffin, it's still important because somebody somewhere is going to be mightily interested in the package. One of the tropes of the subgenre is that opening the Mysterious Package only makes things worse; But either nobody suspects that, or it is the better of the alternatives. Also, when the Knowledgeable Source shows up and insists that the package be opened, he is either one of the bad guys or doesn't know as much as he thinks. Have you decided on using a particular Mythos greater being as your...villian isn't the word. Thing which put the events in motion? Typically "defeat" of one of the Great Old Ones isn't possible; merely foiling their plan, whacking their pawn, etc is all that is available. Afterwards, the GOO might take a personal interest in heroes extinction, or will shrug, call it a learning experience, and try again soon, say in the next ten centuries or so. "Spawn hatching from a corpse" is a common concept in the Mythos. I can't guess which -if any- of the established GOO is responsible. Nyarlathotep is always a good (if overused) choice, since his personal quirk is messing with humans. A seldom used but viable choice in this story is Yhidra, a kind of Mother Goddess figure, but vary different from Shub Niggurath. She has a mutagenic power; she can transform creatures into whatever she feels like sculpting. In the American Southwest, Yig, Lord of Serpents is powerful. Could the exiting NPC be a "Feathered Serpent"? Disfigured by multitudes of swelling snake bites...hmnn... Midas

Re: "This is such fine cloth....." Now this is a scarey thought, here. I'm not a good enough GM to do this, but we are judging societies here; and a truly capable GM ("Nice outfit you're wearing, love the color work. ") could use thit to investigate all kinds of opinion on the role of a human in life. We, in our culture automatically think a competant person is deserving of promotion, while in many societies and world views (Spencerian Social Darwinism) our peasant has achieved the blessing of the gods by his low status. This could lead to some interesting discussion in and around the game, or a lot of bruised feelings when the GM, the culture and one or more players prove incompatable. Another thing, more practical. In a "devine ordered" culture, our king could use the power of his robe to not "promote" the peasant to something he was unsuited for, but to nominate him as the paragon of peasants. this would reward him for being what he is, but not take him out of his ordained position. Hmnn. Could the king use the cloak as a way of improving efficiency in his empire? Yes, he first could give incompetant advisers a quick trip to the headsman's block; but then he could wander around and find -say tutors who are useless teachers- but excellent at giving advice. Midas, Who is remembering the Peter Principle from discussions long ago.

Re: SF worlds, what's possible, what isn't. Indeed. Raptors have FTL, and some ships have FTL. Vipers and many ships don't. Remember that the survivors were forced to leave the slow boats behind (and how many were massecred?). So some of the Colonies were close enough that it was practical to have passenger vessals traverse in between. TPTB have been cagey about whether the Colonials have FTL communications, but it has been hinted at that they don't. OTOH, there is some indication that the Cylons do. Or else they have raiders close to the fleet picking up spy transmissions and Final Uploads. They have also been cagey about how many systems make up the Colonies. Personally, I am of the opinion that the colonies are located in a "globular cluster" of some kind, with stars quite near each other, but I was speculating on how you could have twelve habitable planets in one system. Re: The Lagrange points, Basil that works! You can have 12 habitable planets in one system. Work it this way: Three Jovian planets in the "green belt" with one to three habitable moons each. Put a single or double planet in the second Lagrange point of each orbit. Nothing notable need go into the third. (BTW I'm just arguing this as a mental exercise; I doubt that the Kobolians had the kind of tech to nudge planets, though they might have been mighty terraformers ((Koboliformers?))). Also, I'm being generous with the definition of habitable. I get the impression that Geminon is similar to a pulp era Venus, and that Sagiton barely qualifies as habitable. I'm visuallizing something like Mars in that Ahnald flick. Midas

Re: SF worlds, what's possible, what isn't. Ah ok, Thank you Basil. Let's carry the speculation onward. Re a nearby thread: Could you put a Jovian planet (I'm thinking of whatever those things are that astronomers have found orbiting nearby stars), with a habitable moon, in Earth's orbit at point "A", and then put Earth at point "B", and Luna at point "C"? Midas

Re: SF worlds, what's possible, what isn't. OK, here is one I have been skulling on. FTR, my knowledge of planetary mechanics is feeble, my ignorance vast: I'm only going with what I have heard. The Colonies of the Re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. Would it be possible (very highly unlikely, but possible) that there could be up to 18 earth like planets in a standard solar system? First we have three orbits: Venus -hot. Earth -temperate. Mars -cold. But all in theory within the life belt. Then any could be double planets al al Romulus/Remus from that TV series. Then there are "trojan points" in all three orbits. OK, allowing Kobalian super-tech to nudge planets to the right positions and terraform, how rubber is my science? Midas PS: Shall I bring up the Firefly system?

Re: Making a Post-Apoc "logical" Thank you, I am a glutton for praise. I think we are closer to agreement than it might appear. My main concern was more of a metagaming event. Adventurer in town: "How much for a week's trail rations?" Vendor: "Five gilpeks." "Bit high. Does anyone else sell food?" "Yes, but they will all charge exactly the same." "Ah, ok, lemme have fifty weeks worth" "250 gilpeks." (Adventurer travels for close to a year, clear across the continent). "I need some trail rations." "Five gilpeks..." While the GM could set a rate for each merchant (This one charges 110%, this one 85%, etc) or do something like the C&S bargaining system, it is boring for both the GM and player to have to compare prices of fresh fruit and hay/ethanol for every purchase and merchant. As for the similar threads, Azato origenally asked how could technology not be restarted in a PA setting. The other poster asked for criticism of his PA concept. Both however veered toward what would or wouldn't be available, and the stability of the PA society. Azato, are you apologizing for contributing to both threads? Why? Midas

Re: Making a Post-Apoc "logical"

Re: Comics Magazine Association of America Original Code for Editorial Matter How about setting a pulp or low Champions campaign in the 40's or 50's, have a few edge of "Spicy" runs (like the one Karmakaze discribed), then have Fred Whertham and Estes Kefauver go after the heroes themselves rather than the publisher? Midas

Re: The Beverly Hillbillies No, I think Pettycoat Junction and Green Acres are next. Ghost & Mrs. Muir? Gilligan's Island of course. I Dream of Jeanie and Bewitched would make viable urban fantasies. My Mother the Car? (Too easy). While we are on the subject of BH though, don't forget the monstrous Billiyard: "Well, this here is a 'Billiyard Room' and that there is a 'Billiyard Table," so we reckon that there (Jed points to a mounted rhino head) must be a Billiyard." Midas

Re: Making a Post-Apoc "logical" There was a book (The Flying Sorcerors?) Where "As Mauve" (Asimov, yeah, it was full of in jokes) crashed on a pre industrial planet, and among other things, started currency. The authors did a much better job of conveying the reluctance of people to accept a common value for money than I could here. But several situations developed where buyer and seller were deadlocked over the value of the script, and the relationship between one precious item vs another. Also, I would expect that IOUs, a written form of "favor" like C&S would develop. IIRC, something like this happens in remote areas, where there isn't enough paper money around. Change is given in local checks: "$27.17" "I have Bill Wiggs check for $30." "OK, I have a dollar bill and a $12 check from Fran. Got a ten?" etc. It works as far as I know. When the bank gets a new batch of funds, everybody cashes in their collection, pays outstanding bills etc, and writes checks for another month. So to answer the question, even if a value is determined by fiat, there will still be disagreements over whether to accept that value. If I understand economics, mis-setting the value will effect the economy: Setting it too low will cause hoarding of goods, too high and hoarding of money happens. Either way, nobody sells/buys, and the economy stops. (Not that I want to turn the thread into a discussion of economic theory) Midas

Re: You can't see it! "Things like airplanes are very complex objects -- complex shape and complex materials -- and I do not know to what extent our concept can be applicable to that," From the Nature link. [thread Hijack] How would it work on, oh, I donno, saucer shaped things? [end hijack] I always took the Romulan cloaks to work something like this. They aren't invisibility devices, in the truest sense of the word, but devices that make the bearer so non emmitive that searchers couldn't see them at Trek scale distances. By the time of Picard, the Warbird that Kirk fought was easily spotted (IMHO), but the emmiter dampeners of Picard time were also more effective. Kinda like how the shields were penetrable to more advanced teleporters. Midas

Re: Post Apocalyptic Hero Re the mutation thing. Sickle Cell Anemia (a genetically defective mutation) gives resistance to malaria. (at least according to Wiki the All Knowing). Just to argue the point of what, exactly, is a "harmful" mutation. More to the point, 40 years is enough time for *individual* mutants to develop, just not mutant races. So you would have an ancient Greecian monster setup. A one minotaur. A one chemiera. etc. Think of it this way. A huge number of mutagens have been released. Most of the mutated fetae(?) spontaniously abort. Most of the rest aren't viable and die relatively soon after. But a few are generally positive mutants, an ability to be more economical with food, for example. So you have "Eats Once a Week Lad," who might get the girls and contribute to the gene pool, but not yet a whole race of starvelings. You could have mutant races from quick generating creatures (Hoops any one? or the ever popular PA baddies; Ratmen). The other thing I wanted to bring up is power. I think some power is more available than you give it credit for. While big hydroelectric dams like Hoover will not be repairable by hand labor, simple waterwheels and millhouses would be. I don't think an 18th century mill house could power a 12,000 pop area. However, a "blacksmith" working out of one could have enough electricity to do handcrafted work. Beside that, your survivors aren't reinventing the wheel so to speak. The experiments of Volta, Edison, et al are available. They already *know* how to generate electricity. One other thing. I'm Azzuming that your home base is on the Hudson somewhere. You should decide on a "sweet spot" between the easier "mining" of Manhattan, and the more arable soil the further away from old NYC you are. 2cents from the hoard of, Midas

Re: Dyson Spheres A lowtech way of spotting a Dyson Sphere would be simple distance. Let us assume that Polaris is 1000 light years away, and that the inhabitants of the Polaris system built a Dyson Sphere 998 years ago. Certainly someone would notice Polaris going away in 2008? Yes, Polaris is not a likely candidate for life, but it is a good example. More likely a yellow dwarf would disappear, if someone was close enough (in interstellar distance) to notice it. For raw materials , since we're discussing Arthur Clark level tech anyway, couldn't someone use a companion star, a brown dwarf most likely? Midas

Re: The Beverly Hillbillies Interesting idea. I'd give Jethro cramming. 8- in whatever he was checking out that week/adventure. Jed had a vast understated intelligence. I'd give him some way of spotting and avoiding con jobs and such. Which leads me to Drysdale. If he could find a way of defrauding the Clampetts out of their fortune he would leap at it, but Jed is too smart (or perhaps too innocent in his way) to let Drysdale get away with whatever he planned. So that would make him a watched. Yet because of his psych limits he is slavishly willing to do whatever Jed needs, so that might make him a 14- well connected contact. Did I just discribe a DNPC here? Please don't forget long suffering Miss Hathaway. Midas

Re: Things I have learned playing a pulp hero ... AA: If it is a continuing series, no matter what you do, something will keep you from escaping the Lost World. AB: Someone always has to be the Gilligan/ Dr Smith. If you would shoot (usualy) her, you would be out of there in no time. AB: Especially if she has "greedy" or "self centered" as psy crocks. (Yes I enjoyed the Tribune version of Lost World: I am Midas after all *_*)

Re: Tales Of The Gold Monkey And besides, he wasn't very fanatic about being a Nazi spy. He was basically just a horndog who had found a ready source of willing women. He reluctantly did "spy stuff" for fear of being recalled, IIRC. Yes, it was a great show, and would make a good pulp campaign. The first ep (and where the series got its name) had the protagonists racing a band of nazies looking for a super metal that was immune to heat damage. They fought past giant oranutangs, braved lava flows, and found only a small plain brass monkey idol (which was kept as a suveneer). The Germans left in disgust... Then the closing credits showed the golden orangutans sitting in their active vocano home, idly brushing off flecks of hot magma... Midas

Re: A Killing Song Robyn replies: Ah, the problem isn't that a bypasser wouldn't experience the song, but that he *would.* Ok, how about some kind of graduaded effect? Bypasser hears a cool song. He keeps going, possibly humming the few bars he has just heard, or he becomes a bystander. As a bystander, he thinks the song is really moving, and decides to listen some more. Third phase, he starts to see what the singer is trying to convey, but it is obviously just gossimer. Fourth phase of hearing, he really gets into the music, though he might wonder who some of the people he sees are. To be traditional and complicate things even more:D, would that be the singer's phases, or the listeners'? Midas

Re: A Killing Song I know this is an old thread, but I have to contribute something here. The problem is that a Bard begins a song so moving that the audience actually experiences the events described: But somebody comes in late and wonders why everyone seems so entranced. Pardon, but I don't see the problem. Just as somebody tuning into a show fiftenn minutes in doesn't know what is going on, so does our latecomer. However, as he sits and fidgets, he too will get into the story, just not right from the beginning. IOW, he won't see the illusion (regardless of whether it is mental, light, or CE), but will start to follow the plot after a few minutes. He might wonder what is going on, if the "Elven Ballad effect" is not part of the usual show, but other than that? Midas

Re: No spaceship

Re: Genres HERO GAMES may want to avoid (intended to be humorous) Decades ago actually: TSR vs D&D fan products HERO. (A supplement for Silver Age Hero) Midas

Re: Infinite Worlds Infinite Earths looked interesting to me too, but I have a philosophical problem with the multiple timelines concept: Its utter pointlessness. Lemme give you an example: Our group of "sliders" goes to Naziworld, where the Axis won WWII. They find (or found) a few cells of resistance fighters, promote a rebellion, and Democracy Is On The March! Mission accomplished, and the PCs go onto the next adventure. Except that the timeline split somewhere here. For every victory they accomplished, somewhere in spacetime there is a defeat. While the Nazi's are on the run in this adventure, there is an alternate timeline where they failed. The heroes were defeated, and the 1000 year Reich stands triumphant. Pointless. Anybody addressed this conundrum? Midas

Re: NOBLES, KNIGHTS, AND NECROMANCERS -- What Do *You* Want To See? Not a "mad" scientist, but a misguided genius. This absent minded good hearted fellow is an inventor without peer. But he isn't too swift on the consequences of his inventions, in either the direct or universal meaning. He discovers something like the printing press, and instead of making a fortune, he gives it to that friendly young anarchist that lives 'round back. He might learn to smelt aluminum and arm people with light, strong metal. Cotten gins. Steam engines. electricity, and electric machines (all night factories anyone?). The assembly line concept. You get the idea. Midas

Re: Victorian Women's Art of Self Defense Excellent design. Just to complicate the things, for principles of discussion, how about this? In the news article above, I don't know that corsets even qualify as foci (a gang of barbarians were defeated in removing one). And re the discussion above, how about some type of drain of resources? Could a corset be constructed as a force field, costing END all the time worn? This would lead to calculating END in non combat time, and other complications however. Another thing. If you added in panniers and/or bustles, would that extend the coverage? They are really just pillows, but they would work quite well as regular PD. Comments on my ruminations? Midas