Midas

Re: The Lost Origin of Evolution

 

Or if they did spread (variations on) their own species, what and where are they?

Rats? They are nearly impossible to eradicate, but are evolved to survive only in human cities.

Dogs? Humans make excellent grooms, you just have to let them *think* they're in charge.

Cats? Double the line about dogs. (There is a reason why people who have cats refer to themselves as "catslaves.")

Midas

Re: Ideas for combat runes

These are permanent runes (in my case) so time and cover is the limit. Armor can only have so many etchings (maybe the magic interferes with each other). If they are tattoos then you only have so many spaces for ink' date=' ect...[/quote']

 

I ran into an in game problem with runes: The focus issue. Carving a rune of say "fearsome damage" (+1d6 hka) on a sword is great. Lets you add damage with that sword. But not with any other sword. The obvious thing to do is put the rune on the back of your hand, then it works with any weapon, but it is no longer technically a focus.

 

It also encourages captors to partially flay or amputate any captives for fear of some oddball tattoo being a rune they've never seen before. Not that orcs need that much encouragement, mind you, but the point is still valid: How much ransom is 3/4 of a captured noble worth?

 

The problem is that, in rune magic campaigns, tattoos encourage mutilation. Suggestions?

Midas

Re: Chtulhu

I've considered treating Azathoth and Cthugha as weird energy blasts rather than creatures. After all, they just show up for a few rounds, blast everything in sight, and disappear.

The trick is mimicking the random size and nature of the beasties (esp Azathoth).

Any suggestions?

Midas

Re: Here's One Way to Start A Zombie Apocalypse

Another way to start a Zombie Apocalypse? Vote Republican in the upcoming

Presidential election this year.

 

 

 

Major Tom

Could happen. If McCain wins, instead of "brainnnnnnns", a lot of people will be mindlessly droning "Not myyyyyyyyyyy president".

John McCain might be a lot of things, but I don't think that he is a collected mass of undead bacteria.

 

Or is he a Shoggoth Lord?

Oddly enough, when I think of an avatar of Ygolonac (pretransformation), McCain looks very close to what I imagined.

OTOH, Obama looks very much like a Nyarlathotep avatar. double

edit: On the third hand (third hand? triple ), I've never seen the scenario with "Mr Shiny" so I can't compare.

Midas

Re: Here's One Way to Start A Zombie Apocalypse

Originally Posted by Midas

Heh. I like the Lovecraft quote.

 

Cthulhu isn't a giant octopoid at the bottom of the Pacific, He is spread out cell by cell across all the oceans of the world.

That... is... genius...Rep!

:oThank you, thank you.

Interesting idea though. The reason all those searches for R'lyeh have been unsuccessful is that nothing is there...yet. Those co-ordinates are where Cthulhu will...congeal.

"When the stars are right

10% of the biomass will form..."

Just doesn't have the right ring to it.

Maybe we should port this thread to Pulp?

Midas

PS: Basil, your link in the SH forum comes back 404.

Re: Here's One Way to Start A Zombie Apocalypse

Very, very interesting.

 

I figured it's something that would interest folks who are into Star Hero, so I started a thread over there.

 

Rep to you.

Heh. I like the Lovecraft quote.

Cthulhu isn't a giant octopoid at the bottom of the Pacific, He is spread out cell by cell across all the oceans of the world.

Midas

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Recently completed all seven seasons of Highlander

Interesting. We have been doing marathons, but haven't hit HL yet (we want a copy of Source just for completeness sake). Do you intend to watch Raven as well? For that matter, did you like any of the proposed spin offs that they ran in season 7?

We just did a double feature of Lake House and Premonition. Interesting watching two movies with the same lead having the same experience (time out of joint). Having the husband be played by the actor that did Cole (source of all evil) on Charmed and Dr Doom in FF was a little jarring. To be fair, he did fairly well as a not villain.

Re-watched Hellboy and two animated features to get up to speed for when we find the dough to see Hellboy 2.

Sword of Storms was interesting, but seemed a bit derivative of Samurai Jack (not that that is a bad thing ). Hellboy gets zapped to a Place of Wyrd and wanders around fighting off random attackers.

Blood & Iron was fun too, but I kept thinking "this reminds me of Gargoyles." The lead villainess, skulking around in shadows and ranting about how great "our people" are, compared to mundanes, smacked strongly of Demona. I was just thinking that when they introduced the billionaire MacGuffin owner, who looked enough like David Xanatos to be related - even though he sounded like Tom Arnold. I fell over laughing so hard.

Midas

Re: Urban Fantasy: Warnings

If we're talking about Scottish Fae and the teind' date=' then the Faerie Realm may well [i']be[/i] Hell, or at least in the same neighborhood.

 

BTW, am I the only person who gets tired of all the uber-Aryan morally perfect omnisexual elves with the kewl magik powerz who seem to swarm in every Urban Fantasy setting? I'd like to see some good (or at least non-monstrously evil) Unseelie for once. How about a somewhat surly Redcap who just wants to hide in an abandoned house, and doesn't spend all his time slaughtering and eating people?

Seriously? May I suggest LKH's Merry Gentry series? In that one, the Seelie are Neo Nazi perfectionists, and the Unseelie are the (relative) progressives. Anybody who isn't perfect enough to be in the Seelie Court is thrown out, into the Unseelie. "Sadist, pedophile and necrophiliac? Sorry, we'd like to keep you in the Seelie Court, but some things just aren't done. HEY YOU! With the Jay Leno tuft of hair! You are GONE! We don't allow such terrible blasphemies to perfection around here! Now where was I, oh yes, we don't appreciate someone making us look bad, so I guess you'll have to leave too. Just follow the bad hair elf."

Heck, how about non pseudo-Celtic Fae? Try and do some research on Cherokee spirits like the Nanehi (for good) and the Water People, the Moon-Eyed People (evil blue-eyed blondes! Try something different!), and Spearfinger the Witch (for evil).

There is a series of books by...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Deitz ...set in rural Georgia, where a Sidhe kingdom is nearby, Just Through the Vail. The Moon Eyed People aren't really evil, but just a bit amoral, by human standards.

Another author I would recommend is Esther Friesner. She has a comedy series dealing with Fey on the East Coast.

* New York by Knight

* Elf Defense

* Sphynxes Wild

Re: Components and Failed Spells

1 - One of our casters uses rune magic from the Grimoire II and thus all of this spells use components consisting of a rune painted or carved. My question is what happens to the component if the Power skill roll (Rune Magic in this case) fails? Is the component lost, resulting in the caster needed to create a new rune, or can he simply try to cast again on his next phase? Do they also lose the END cost for the spell if it fails?

 

The answer, as in all HERO questions is "It depends."

The second question, END costs, depends on modifiers. If you are using END, and you haven't bought it off (reduced END), or replaced it (charges) then yes, it costs END.

The other question deals with the "expendable" modifier. You may compare the runes to an archer's bow, or to his arrows. It makes no more sense to require your runecaster to re enchant his rune stones than it does for an archer to get a new bow after every arrow fired. OTOH (it depends, remember ) if you compare them to the archer's arrows, then re enchanting the stones after a use makes much more sense. Note that as long as the runecaster didn't take the Never Recovers or Independent modifiers, re enchanting the rune stones will only cost him time, not experience.

Midas

Re: More Abusive characters

The only problem with Pit Fiend as written is you need another power for movement, otherwise the target just sits there, unable to affect anything, which in and of itself is pretty annoying.

 

Oops, I guess its for the pit. My bad!

Right, it's really an entangle variant, with a variable DEF/BOD based on the amount of DEF/BOD of the ground beneath the target's feet. Wouldn't do much against a target with flight, desol, or tunnelling, but it has a pretty spectacular PRE bonus ("The ground just swallowed Fred!")

OTOH, it is really nasty if the target lacks proper life support (not only no air, but totally immobile as in can't move his diaphragm muscle). Not to mention if it is a gritty campaign where the DM doesn't mind ...mixing... things.

Midas

Re: More Abusive characters

Most abusive characters? Anyone with

 

Phych Lim: beats significant other around.

I thought it was was somebody who was cruel to their pot plant.

Midas

Drug abuser, geddit? Never mind.

Re: More Abusive characters

Warning: Do not try these in your campaign unless you like playing with no GM or other players.

 

You've seen them at cons and as a GM you get them tossed at you every once in a while. Its good practice to see what abuses of powers there are out there.

 

What abusive concepts have you come up? Here were some oldies to the forum

 

[*]Gateway - ExtraDimensional Travel Usable Against Others. Bye Bye.

Don't forget ranged and IPE!

How about The Pit Fiend?

Desol, usable as an attack, AofE 1 hex, ranged. Limitation, only the ground/floor below the target's feet. Special effect: The ground beneath the target turns to vapor for an instant, he falls two meters (negligible damage) and the ground instantly hardens up around him.

Donno if it is a legal build or not, but from a stricktly game logic there is nothing wrong with it.

Midas

Re: Supernatural Hero

Oh. Well' date=' I thought you meant for the PCs, whom I assumed would [i']be [/i]hunters.

Yeppers. But it bugs me that normals and mundanes have no defense against demons in SP world. The *only* thing preventing a complete demonic takeover are the Winchester brothers and a Trickster. (We saw how effective the other hunters were at the end of season 2 ).

Re the original post, if I were DM'ing, I'd change that.

Midas

Re: Supernatural Hero

Supernatural airs on a normal over the air channel here. Guess you must live somewhere that the (former) WB doesn't broadcast to.

Yeah, WB or whoever is on channel 65 out of Richmond, going coast to coast with four watts of power.

You can also get Seasons 1 and 2 on disc .. great stuff!

Oh yeah, on the list.

Originally Posted by Midas

We had to give up cable last year, but I have read reviews of that episode. Bumr, that bites. I had hoped there was some hope for us poor mortals not with Winchesters underfoot, but I guess not.

 

Well, you can probably get the charms from almost any of the Hunters Underground.

Hee! Well yeah, but figure the odds. Which is more likely to happen: You run into a Hunter that is willing to admit his hobby, or you get possessed by a demon?

Re: Supernatural Hero

Originally Posted by Midas

I'd say the first thing you have to decide is the meta-rules behind possession: Not the mechanics, but the choice of victims. From what I can see on the show, anybody (except the two principals -PC shield ) can be possessed at any time. IIRC, one time the brothers were attacking a nest of demons with the fire department just outside the building. They whacked a demon, and the camera cut to a fireman Going Blackeye and charging into the building. You'll have to decide whether there is any protection besides PC immunity from that. Else expect to go through a lot of DNPCs.

 

Actually, I saw a more recent episode where this was explained. Sam and Dean were hold up in a jail building with a group of others. They handed out necklaces with charms on them that would prevent the wearer from being possessed. When one of the others pointed out that the brothers weren't wearing the charms, they opened their shirts to show that they had them tattooed on their chests.

We had to give up cable last year, but I have read reviews of that episode. Bumr, that bites. I had hoped there was some hope for us poor mortals not with Winchesters underfoot, but I guess not.

Midas

Re: Middle-earth

I have another question for anybody out there in Herodom. How would you simulate the river flood destroying the Ring-wraiths in Fellowship of the Ring in Hero terms?

Hmnn, how about the Nazgul being denizens of another dimension (spirit world). Build morgul blades with whatever power you want, and include extra D effect (real world). Then make the blades breakable foci. Vulnerable to water damage would add flavor. I'm thinking of Gandalf's comment something to the effect of "unable to hide their nothingness" being the effect of the flood at the ford.

Also, though they were able to sense the Real World, it was dimly. Though one had a bonus to scent rolls.

2cents from the hoard of,

Midas

Re: Supernatural Hero

I want to do a paranormal investigation game and I'd like to base it on the "rules" of the Supernatural tv series. I've seen the Winchester brothers writeups somewhere' date=' but I would like some help with the Demons......I'm not sure how to do that, nor do I know how to do an exorcism in game terms.....Any help would be welcome[/quote']

 

I'd say the first thing you have to decide is the meta-rules behind possession: Not the mechanics, but the choice of victims. From what I can see on the show, anybody (except the two principals -PC shield ) can be possessed at any time. IIRC, one time the brothers were attacking a nest of demons with the fire department just outside the building. They whacked a demon, and the camera cut to a fireman Going Blackeye and charging into the building. You'll have to decide whether there is any protection besides PC immunity from that. Else expect to go through a lot of DNPCs.

 

The second thing you'll have to decide is what kind of support your monster hunters have. In the first season all Sam n Dean had was "Dad's Book" a kind of Monster Manual. In the second season we found out that a whole sub culture of hunters were out there, giving advice and support.

 

Third thing: Do you want demons? IMNSHO demonic infestation was done to death on Charmed. If you do include them, are they going to be your central enemy, or will it be Monster of the Week?

 

Midas

Re: Pokemon: Gotta Build 'em All

I've been kicking around something similar, though based on Galatia in 2d rather than "CCG."

My basic idea was having a skill "artist." Whatever you could draw, you could summon, based on the skill/summon roll. I'm not familiar with the Pokemon canon, but say a PC draws/finds a "Dr Distroyer" card. OK, using that card would be say a minus 20 on his summon roll. Now he either needs to be darn good, or a take a lot of extra time, complimentary rolls, etc.

I rule the "cards" (Though they can be wall paintings, frescoes, etc) are Independant, some sort of focus, and a skill roll.

An artist can create his own cards, but it would be a good idea to not make them too much more powerful than his skill roll.

Just some of the ideas I've had on the subject,

Midas

Re: Return of the blimp/zepellin

Yes...

 

Lighter than air ships are a really, really great idea. Unfortunately there's that famous disaster that everyone knows about.

 

 

 

Stupid Hindenburg.

The problem is, the Hindenburg is only the most well known disaster. The things had a tendency to fall apart every time they were caught in a storm (I exaggerate, somewhat - but the fact remains that every time somebody built one that was more rugged than the last failure, it unfailingly went Titanic).

Here is what Wiki says re "airship:"

Eventually the US Navy lost all three American-built rigid airships to accidents. USS Shenandoah on a poorly planned publicity flight flew into a severe thunderstorm over Noble County, Ohio on 3 September 1925. It broke into pieces, killing 14 of her crew. USS Akron was caught in a severe storm and flown into the surface of the sea off the shore of New Jersey on April 3, 1933. It carried no life boats and few life vests, so 73 of her 76-men crew died from drowning or hypothermia. USS Macon was lost after suffering a structural failure off the shore of Point Sur, California on 12 February 1935. The failure caused a loss of gas, which was made much worse when the aircraft was driven over pressure height causing it to lose too much helium to maintain flight.[28] Only 2 of her 83-man crew died in the crash thanks to the inclusion of life jackets and inflatable rafts after the Akron disaster...

Are the ones they are building now more all weather?

BTW, I like Zeppelins. I've always wanted to run the COC campaign Brotherhood of the Beast, just because the villains get an airship as their HQ.

Midas

Re: Lost cities under Russian lake...

Nifty

 

This part of the wiki entry for the lake intrigued me

...archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 2500-year-old advanced civilization at the bottom of the Lake...In pre-Islamic legend, the king of the Ossounes had donkey's ears. He would hide them, and order each of his barbers killed to hide his secret. One barber yelled the secret into a well...

:think:Hey, that story sounds familiar!

Phrygia

 

In antiquity, Phrygia (Greek: Φρυγία) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia. The Phrygian people settled in the area from c. 1200 BC, and established a kingdom in the 8th century BC. It was overwhelmed by Cimmerian invaders c. 690 BC, then briefly conquered by its neighbor Lydia, before it passed successively into the Persian Empire of Cyrus, the empire of Alexander and his successors, was taken by the king of Pergamon, and eventually became part of the Roman Empire. The Phrygian language survived until about the 6th century AD.

Though I don't know the actual origin date of the King Midas story: Since Phrygia dates from 1200 to 690 BC, I would speculate that the Cimmerians carried the tale to Issyk_Kul.

(muttering about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery)

Midas

Re: Time Travel Wish List?

If you were playing a time travel RPG' date=' what are your top 3 space-times to visit? Please limit yourself to Earth, pre-2008 AD. And just to make the challenge more fun, let's rule out Nazi Germany and the U.S. Civil War. [/quote']

 

As a spectral observer, or physically there? In the later case, how rigid is the time line? Can history be changed, and should it? Who wouldn't finance Bill Gates' start up money, if they could? (Not only Butterfly Effect, but Monkey's Paw effect to consider also).

 

1. 30AD' date=' in what is now Israel: I'd love to get a first-hand look at what (if anything) was going on with the carpenter's son.[/quote']

 

Scooped me. I was going to post that idea, but my ISP crashed.

 

My second choice would be *NEAR* but not at the Bosporus about 10,000 BC to see if there was a neolithic culture on the "lower" beaches of the Black Sea, and to see that huge waterfall. Or be disappointed to see nothing of the sort.

 

Third, to follow that up, would be when Gibraltar opened and drowned the Med basin. A waterfall twelve miles wide and a mile deep would be pretty spectacular.

 

On the subject of natural disasters: The last time the Yellowstone cauldron blew (how far away would I have to be to survive *that*?), or that weird canyon land (can't think of the name) in East Washington State, that was carved in moments by Lake Missoula collapsing?

 

new 1st choice, on the subject of missing persons, how about this one? Hanging out with Alexander the Great's funeral train to see where he finally was planted.

 

Midas

Re: Space 1999 aka Space 2099

The asteroid was an interstellar greyhound coach with regularly scheduled stops? No way to control where it's going, just discover through trial and loosing people, that it only stays in a system for a certain amount of time and then 'folds' out?

 

That could work. Big question would be what happens when it finally arrives at the Terminus and the cleaning crew appear.

They tell the characters to go sleep over in the corner with the other vagrants?

Re: Idea for a robot campaign

To be fair' date=' not every game is terribly different. There's the whole "Seven Basic Plots" argument, and so on. I think that he'd just be shaking up the stylistic elements a bit, and introducing different genre-trope NPCs.[/quote']

 

I was afraid my question would sound a bit snarky in print.

 

Let me try again. Sell it to us. Pretend you are trying to sell a Japanamation script to an animation studio. Why, of all the scripts/rpg campaigns available would this one be one to take particular interest in? Pitch the concept so that I want to go "Whoa, lemme play in that world!"

 

Midas

 

BTW, could you point me to a "seven plots" link?

Re: Glassy Mars

That's okay' date=' I want me some hawt Martian women![/quote']

 

I assume you're talking about the red egg-laying Dejah Thoris types' date=' and not the weird green long-headed Martian Manhunter type or the exposed-brain Mars Attacks type...[/quote']

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Tyr%27ahnee

 

Nah, Queen Tyranhnee!

Re: Glassy Mars

Fortunately with modern technology a good library of movies' date=' music, and e-books takes very little mass, and new ones can be uploaded throughout the mission.[/quote']

 

Why not just send one guy and a collection of robots? We could send him special movies that never made it to theaters maybe?

 

Has this been done before?

 

Midas