Lord Mhoram

Alliance actually already has it in thier warehouses. I ordered ours today, to be in our shop on Monday. So go ahead and go bug your FLGS.

Great Iridium Con, DNA sourcebook for sure. I remember 2 or three others too.

Good points that I snipped. I understand completely about what you say in the above. I specifically introduced PSI as a group so hated and evil that the PCs would go over the line and kill them. I always wanted the heroes to have one situation that they could fix completely, and that was it. When I ran my game, charcater made a difference in the world (and I can understand your frustration with the big 2 for that). One PC became a high ranking government official, and made a huge impact on the world. The campaign started at 250. When it finished it was around 600-700 (ran 11 years or so). I started with a "Wildcards" like virus, and at the end the world felt like a standard 4 color comic book (or more like Astro City). The PCs started as the new mutants or early Xmen, and ended up the JLA. Lots of growth, lots of soul searching, lots of impact on the world. So I do see your point about growth, otherwise its just "plot of the week".

And I can see that, and to a certain extent I agree with that. I think that books & games that address that issue are important. I just don't want them to be "mainstream". As to the comment about being a hero- this is my take on it. The spandex doesn't mean hero- it means super-hero; ie over and above a hero. A superhero should be holding himself to a higher standard than a hero. Bond can kill, he has too. Thats his job, but superhero is supposed to be super(ior) to that, have the power to defeat without killing, to not cross that line. I guess what irks me about that whole approach (the heroes are just like us with powers) is that I don't want the superhero to be just like us, with powers. In addition have powers at a higher level than normal, thier morality, thier ethics, the essence of who they are should also be higher than normal. When you get the powers without the rest, it just seems wrong to me. Doing it otherwise makes for a great thought experiment, or moral issues that are dealt with in a few comics, but again I don't want to see it "mainstream". The "we don't have to kill" attitude is part of what seperates superheroes from the rest. If they use the approach and methods of "lesser" heros, why bother reading comics. Just watch a die hard movie or a bond movie (both of which I love) instead. Otherwise it is just a modern action setting with the bells and whistles of superpowers. It is also about setting and I mention the spandex as a clue to this. I love the Crossgen stuff. Sigil - Sam Rey has superpowers, however he is in a SF setting, and at war. He kills. This doesn't bother me. Why - It's not superheroes- It's SF with superpowers. And I think that is what I am looking at - A superhero setting is vastly different that a setting with superpowers, a much more black and white one, much more mythic. Needless to say, I have always prefered DC to Marvel, Cyclops to Wolverine, Modern Batman to the Punisher. BTW Storn, it is great to be discussing this and not arguing it. :-)

And that is a truly uncomfortable thought. But I am very much a heroes should be heroic, bright and better than us approach. I don't want dark realism in my games, or my comics. Once the spandex goes on the killing goes off. I generally tell new players (as a way to describe the tone of my games) "If Superman or Captain America wouldn't tolerate your character as a teammate, better get ready to rebuild" That being said, in my 10 year running champs game, I introduced PSI for the express purpose of the darker characters of the hero group having someone to kill off- It was the only time the PCs killed. I build up a rivalry and a hatred between them for 2 or 3 years (in small bits and pieces) then had PSI do something really vile that pushed all of their pychlim buttons and let em loose. Omen did his thing, Mind Slayer and Psimon were killed and Inquisitor was a vegatable.

Or you could add the variable power pool, or buy a variable summon along with this- thats what TMNT did when Kirby was a character in thier comic, way back when.

I know. My friend finds those kind of shields uneathestic, one of the reasons we were looking for a different answer.

The help I need is in justification for campaign feel. My friend is planning to run a Star Hero game, and he wants Martial Arts to be a major part of it, but he wants gun to work just as well- the kind of fight he is looking at (in general) is where the two groups shoot each other for a bit, then close and go to Martial Arts. Now he is a stickler for realism (or at least justificiation), and is trying to figure out why people don't just keep shooting. Techinical or social fix ideas would be appreciated. The ideas we have had- "New Bushido" a social / moral code that you don't shoot first, announce your intentions, HtH is better than guns ect. A velocity shield force field that can deflect any fast moving particle, can only stay up for a short time (say 1 minute) but takes half a turn to a turn to get going. So you get shot at, you turn on your field, shoot back, and when the FF is up, you close and chop them up with swords. Neither of these are very aesthetically pleasing. Anyone with any ideas would be welcome.

In the BBB description on drain it even says "This return rate can be moved down on the time chart for a +1/4 advantage per elvel. By movingthe return rate far down the Time Chart , it is possible to effectively "destroy" an opponent's Characteristic or power." Thus giving a nod on how to recreate destroy with the (then) new rules. And a side not for those that did not play under the prefourth rules, all adjustment powers were multiplied by the char cost. 4th started to affect active points of the power. That way 5 pts of power D didn't stop a 100 pt power (say a 1d6 speed drain).

I did both at once. It's actually not that hard, you just have to figure it right. By way of example (and of course a chance to babble on about my last campaign). Unified Origin: (borrowed somewhat from wildcards). The ship that crashed in Roswell was opened and released a plauge. It swept over the world. Many died, many others got low lever superpowers, a few got major superpowers. Nice tight unified origin, and ran it that way for a few years, but I am devious and things started happening. Everyone on the planet was still infected, and after that fact you sometimes had people spontaneously gain powers from intense situations. So you started having some classic non-unified origins (lightning hits chemicals, fall into vat of stuff, caught in a nuclear explosion). Then.. What was the plauge. It was actually an ancient bioengeenered virus that was used by an ancient "slaver" race that would effectively turn off the will of the people infected. Why didn't that affect humans that way? Those few that knew what the virus was, saw that it was mutated, and the slaver virus never mutated, it stayed the same for eons. Even trying to change it didn't work (comic book chemistry I know). The answer was that back in the dawn of humanity, eveyone had massive cosmic pools. Then one of these people found a way to turn off everyone elses, and did. Some survived, most were totally unpowered and the guy who did it was killed. Enter early archelogical man. Those that retained thier power were the classic pantheonal gods, most of whom had to flee to other dimensions at some point. Current day- When the virus hit, it altered the gene structure to make humans have no will, but in actuallity reawakened this suppressed human power (which I called K'shira). So now you have a justifications for magic and pretty much all other classic comic book bits. My campaign ran 11 years. At the start it felt very Rising Stars / Wildcards. At the end it felt DC/Marvel - which was my intent. With this kind of structure you can run the tight unified origin as long as you like, and when you (and / or your players) start to get tired of that direction, you can start to introduce the level behind, and the one behind that ect. Which can then allow you to bring in other types of stories, and change the feel of the campaign.

If multiple attacks hit an ablative defense at the same time, does it drop the activation one step total, or once for each attack that exceeded the defense. The concrete example that brought this up; trying to model from the X-wing books the action of the squad of snubfighters firing thier missiles, having 16 or 20 (co-ordinated usually) hit the ablative force field of a capital ship and dropping the shield completely.

Hey Steve, How does mind control _Really_ work? Thanks. (Sorry had to be the one.)

This is the secod of two pictures of Cat. I had her history up, and her character sheet with picture online, and a then acquiantence (now friend) saw it, and went home and read her history and background and felt inspired (as he said) and came in with this picture of Cat- as he put it "I made some changes, you can think of it as Black Cat the animated series or something).

Here is the first of two pictures of my currently active long running PC, Black Cat. This was originally a pencil sketch that I scanned in. Then a wonderful soul on the HML offered to do computer inking for anyone on the list, and he did the rest.

For me, I wouldn't want to see a redesign, just a fine tuning, as FREd was to the BBB; so no changes to stat costs, figured chars, or power frameworks. Anything so extensive as to force redesign or rebuild of pretty much all characters is a bad thing. Readjust Damage Shield. I'm sticking with fourth on this one. Keep the fixed haymaker. Haymaker was a x1.5 attack originally but then so were martial arts, and the cost of MA depended on STR. I felt that when MA went to added damage, Haymaker should have as well. Adjust Extra DC in Martial Arts to be 5 pts, and affect all HtH damage. Just like an HA bought 0 end. Keep +/- 1/4's. I like them. Forcing larger looses granularity. I'd like to see more granularity for skills, but don't honestly see a workable way that can handle stats from 10-60. Maybe the 7 + (Cha/3) thing. Dunno. I wouldn't want the base roll for a 10 Cha be much less than a 10, and wouldn't want a 20 to be much more than a 14-15. But doing a roll under Char or 5 + (Cha/2) might work for heroic, once you get into superheroic the number can get silly that way.

Naw its the colon. Any RPG with a ":" in the middle just sucks rocks.

I could see a Star Wars game later in the life of the empire, when it is corrupt and you are the rebels brining it down. I saw the Terran Empire more for the Dune/political type stuff, and foundations style.

Re: Save or Die? Done, yes. Under 100. No. The ability of an attack that can kill in one shot should be expensive. Similar to SuperPheemy's construction what I would do (and it costs more). 5d6 Killing NND, Does body. The D is making your Con roll or the attack not taking you to negative body if applied.

EE was bad, but I have used a character in it for inspiration in the background of a new character, so it can't be the worst. The underwater rules saved Scourge from worst so.... Enemies Assemble and Enemies for Hire.. Altantis too. Actually anything in that particular trade dress that Steve didn't write. As an aside I like the Dr Drugs module.

I have an interesting one from a character for a campaign that hasn't started yet. I'm playing a teenage speedster (Terminal Velocity). Mom (the DNPC) is a variation of Shrike from European Enemies (Mutant not meditation). She had an affair with a british superhero (Dad). She went strait when she found out I was on the way, and moved to the States. Gotta love those reformed semiterrorist supervillian relatives. My archrival is my half brother- who is out to kill me and mom. The GM loved the "sone of the the Villian mother ended up Hero, son of the Hero mother ended up Villian" thing.

It's gotta be Black Cat - the characters who's face adorns the space to the right. She started as a basic martial artist with some "darkforce" powers (pretty much a la Marvel) for some serious defense and some special attacks. Her personality was intense. She was a driven woman, always striving for improvement, whether it be her training, her powers, or team tactics. She was build as a combat martial artist - no stealth skills, just combat, tactics and background stuff. I love playing her... and then one day I had an idea for a plot, and dropped it on the GM..."I want to have Cat die, come back from the dead possessed by the evil nature of her powers, go bad guy- kill someone, get depowered, go to stronghold and get pardoned". The GM said "OK"- and started a subplot/overplot that ran almost a year. And it was fun after Cat came back from the dead- every couple of sessions playing her a little nastier, a little more dark. Had her start swearing.. the other players had no idea what was happening and kept giving me funny looks when I did things like that. Just some of the best roleplaying I have ever done, and some of the best situations for it from the GM. The night of the climax of the second phase of the plot (after she got depowerd, because they found out she had been possessed by her powers) one of the other characters, after Cat started sobbing about what she had done, said "You didn't do it, it wasn't you". I then went to write a little "story" - rather more a tone piece that is still one of the best things I have done, all about her. The whole wonderfulness of the play session lasted me all through my shift at work (I worked graveyard then). The character herself was fairly basic, it was all in the interaction and the play.

I've been looking at the new "other system supers" supplements that I am converting over to HERO system for my Champs game, and I dug out a bunch of my older stuff, and forgot how good GURPS supertemps was- I love so many of the characters in it.... So I was wondering what is other good supers material ripe for theft is there out there- I have what I want from the DC heroes and marvel games, and most of the V&V stuff, and the couple of dual statted superworld games. For the wiseacres who tell me to buy old HERO stuff, I have everything already. I just want MORE!!!! I'm mostly interested in other Gurps supers stuff (I don't even know how many supplements they put out for supers). Any advice is welcome. Thanks bunches.

Huh? That was one of the few they got right. WW should have taken Storm, and Lobo should have taken Wolvie (pure populatiry there). Spiderman they got right, and with the great "clone" joke in it too. Don't remember which the fifth voted one was though. Back to the original topic, one of the best mismatches that actually got published was issue 3 (I think) of Marvel Knights. Punisher vs that Troll guy that has gone toe to toe with Thor. Nothing the Punisher did made a difference.

1) nope. Started with the first perfect bound version. 2) Yep. I even called him on the phone right after (he wasn't famous then, so his number wasn't unlisted). Nice guy, talked for an hour to some gaming nobody who wanted to chat. 3) 8. Two concurrent campaings. Woo hoo!!!!

I bought the book, printed it out and am about half way through reading it in detail; I have done a cursory once over the whole thing. I really like it. It is full of flavor, and I like the mechanics. I plan on using the chaos taint and how it affects thing as a model for the corrupting influence of evil in my upcoming FH game. It fit what I was going to do really close, and that way I don't have to do the work. :-) Anyone interested in any kind of mystic flavor for thier campaign would be well served in buying this book.