Grailknight

On 1/24/2024 at 9:41 AM, Certified said:

... of Florida. 

Despite the more... colorful residents, I'd get Miami so that's a good deal.

More important was the 3rd and 2 before the miss. Love could have run for it or taken his time and hit Jones for the first down. He couldn't decide and ended up with an off balance incompletion.

7 hours ago, Pattern Ghost said:

No, they're pirate servers. That's what they're called. Now, one of them isn't. It's still software piracy. "Private server" is just sugar coating piracy. PotAYto, poTAHto.

 

I'll grant that in this case, they're more Robin Hood than Captain Hook.

 

 

Of course they're aware. Homecoming has been trying to negotiate this for years. But I think it's a huge stretch to say that NCSoft appreciates their efforts without a direct quote from NCSoft. They shut the game down while it was still profitable, they have a history of doing so, and they've never indicated that they care about anything other than their bottom line. If they did, they could have kept the game running for quite a while with the steady player base it had.

A strong case can be made that by approving Homecoming, NCSoft has given approval to all. All of the private servers going sprang from the same code leak, though each has been developed in its own direction since. Also, NCSoft may not want the ill feelings that would come from shutting down all these servers. Shutdown caused them to lose most of their North American market. If they want to reenter at some point, they need to start building some goodwill.

City of Heroes has been back for 4 years. I've been playing on Rebirth since May of 2019. 

City of Heroes Rebirth The Best Superhero MMO Game

There are links there to create a game account, forum account and to join the Discord.

Homecoming is the largest of the private servers. I played there before moving to Rebirth. While they have official permission, no private server has been threatened with shutdown since 2019 when the news spread of them.

Homecoming has made a lot of changes from the original game to make it easier as a single player game. Advancement is faster and end game rewards are easier to obtain. It has a new AT, the Sentinel.

Rebirth's philosophy was to advance the game as the original devs planned. It feels closer to the original game than any other server, but it has made some changes.

-There is a AT, the Guardian.

-There are nearly 1000 new costume options with more coming soon.

-The alignment system has been streamlined for faster switching.

Look me up if you want to return. I have 3 accounts: @Scatterstar, @Trigger Happy and @Control Rod. Peak times are 6 - 12 PM CST but you can usually find other players. I know several Russians and Kiwis who play in the wee hours of North America.

Well, my last campaign was one with all natural powers so this or a similar construct was common.

Regeneration (1 BODY per 6 Hours) (6 Active Points); Limited Power- No strenuous activity while healing Power loses about half of its effectiveness (-1) 3 Real points.

Most supers with this would be good to go from most battles in a day or two, one week max for really serious injuries.

13 hours ago, LoneWolf said:

@Christopher R Taylor my suggestion was to use those same rules for swimming.  So the character with 40m of swimming would be able to use their full upward leap to clear the water.  Anything more should be paid for somehow.   Either the character can purchase extra leaping or buy swimming with the advantage usable as a second move.   UASM is much cheaper so gives the character a substantial discount.

 

@Grailknight So, you would allow the average man to leap 12m without buying any extra leaping? That goes considerably more than cinematics.  The world record for a running broad jump is 8.95m.  

 

This type of things also means there is no reason to buy leaping.  Simply by up your other movement and get it for free.    
 

That's not what I said but I'll clarify. 

If that average man runs off an edge without Leaping, he's still moving at 12m, but he falls 9.8m in that same time. His innate Leaping counters some of that fall distance but he's not going to travel 12m and remain at the same altitude.  So, everything depends on how far away the safe landing area is. Assuming, equal heights, if it's less than his Leaping, he's fine. One or two meters more is going to require a DEX roll to grab on and anything more than that is going to be a Wile E Coyote type wall splat and ensuing fall unless the gap is so far across that he hits the ground first. 

Go rewatch Winter Soldier. Cap and Bucky aren't using Leaping alone to make those jumps in the rooftop chase. They're using their running to cross the distance and Leaping/Breakfall to not be prone on landing. If Spiderman were there, he makes it with just Leaping. 

1 hour ago, LoneWolf said:

Maybe I was not clear enough.  Does the velocity of running on the ground allow you to make a longer horizontal jump?  Let’s say I am on a building and there is another building 20m away.  The character has 40m of running and no bought up leaping.   The character accelerates to his full 40m running and attempts to jump to the next building. Is he able to jump 20m when his running long jump is only 4M?   All movement in this case is horizontal so the fact that running does not allow you to mover vertically is not a factor.  The characters velocity when he leaves the first roof is 40M from running.

 

This is not some Ninja Warrior wall running or other strange power this is straight running.   The way I have always understood the rules the character would be able to leap 4M maybe more if he pushes and fall to the ground.   
 

That would depend on relative heights. If his Running velocity can cover the distance before he falls too far from his basic leap, then he makes it. If not, he slams into the side of the next building somewhere below the spot he was trying for. Maybe he does a move-through on that wall and goes through. The person who bought Leaping always has a better chance of success but Hero is about cinematics not realism.

5 hours ago, LoneWolf said:

Are you doing the same for running? 

The situations are not the same. Normally you cannot run vertically but swimming is three-dimensional movement. If we were talking about some Ninja Warrior ramp runs or some such then yes.

Two valid points of view here.

I'd probably split the difference and let 1/2 of the Character's swimming count for vertical momentum. While it's true it wasn't paid for, some nods to realism must be made.

A grassy gnoll.

Yeah, 4d6 HKA is enough to cut through your average tree and it's where I usually cap the DC's in a fantasy game. You could also go to an old school game rule that's not seen much today: types of damage. Trees are probably tougher against bashing than piercing and even weaker against slashing.

French and German being low doesn't surprise me. The last immigration waves from Europe were all done in the early 20th century. Even if they came at the tail end of WW II, we're into the third generation for those groups. Europeans tend to not cling as tightly to their native language and America of the 50's and 60's placed more pressure on immigrants to fit in.

That final version looks good to me. I might add 1 more level of Rapid if it's going to be used in large cities. 

As an avid watcher of Goblin Slayer, it would definitely be just a Watched. The guild gives out quests and pays rewards upon their completion. They also typically require a brief report from the adventurer(s) to verify completion and to know if any monsters may have escaped. They do try to monitor people who consistently get bad reviews by their fellow party members but the harshest punishments they give are refusal of rank promotion, bad references if another party asks and poor selection in new quests.

It was a repeat of the joke in the first movie where he fed Mera a rose.

How about Tracking?

This just sprang up in the past week: 

“Localizers” upset over The Ancient Magus’ Bride manga’s AI translation - Niche Gamer

It seems that western anime and manga companies are switching to AI over using localizing translators. For manga, this will enable the content to be released outside its country of origin in much shorter times and will cut into piracy. That's a good thing for creators and distributors as it keeps the money in the industry.

For anime though, it will cause a massive change in the dubbed product. For several years. localizers have become increasingly strident about pushing their agendas into the dubbed scripts of new releases. Many jokes or references do have to be changed for a foreign audience, but the changes have pushed farther and farther to the point of completely changing the meaning of scenes and the overall story experience.

It's gotten so bad in some cases that the anime producers have pulled distribution licenses due to disputes between the localizers and the creators. When pushed back on this by fans, the localizers have reacted ... poorly. And I mean Disney Star Wars, Rings of Power and Wheel of Time levels of contempt, bile, character assassination and hatred spewed toward the fandom. This has resulted in the fandom being somewhat ... unsympathetic to the news that these people's jobs are on the line.

The thing is that some their jobs will still be available, just changed as the content producers will still need them to editorialize what the AI produces. But they will have to stick to the original meaning and not insert their fanfic and this has begun the cries of oppression and sexism that some extremists see in any everyday conversation.

10 hours ago, Old Man said:

 

Are teams even allowed to switch back to the extra point kick once they actually make a 2-point try?  It seems like it would be a bit of a loophole.

Yes, you can switch back. The penalty would still be applied, and the kick would be that much longer.

19 hours ago, Ternaugh said:

 

Back in my Circuit City days, it was fairly common to get TV/VCR combos which had been "fed" things by small children. Service would send the objects back in an accessory bag attached to the device. One object sent back was a desiccated peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Had that in my Radio Shack days also. More commonly we gave the customers back their items in a plastic bag with all the wildlife that had moved in enclosed.

14 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

Which one are we supposed to believe is responsible for the skulls?

Shame on you for forgetting your Monty Python!

Just saw Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and can't understand the negative press. Was it Oscar quality acting and writing? No. Did it have good action, a cohesive plot and characters with understandable motivations? Yes, to all three.

The worst thing I can say about this movie is that it redoes the plotline of the first with Orm in Mera's role and sibling rivalry instead of romantic tension. But it does so many good things to counteract that. It only teases a long fight scene against run of the mill thugs, The things they do fight are credible threats either in numbers or power, the humor is kept in check and doesn't seem forced, and the evil masterplan is over the top only in its timescale.

Best of all, the characters remain consistent in personality and in powers. Black Manta is given a powerup through Faustian bargain, but remains true to his vendetta against Arthur without slipping into melodramatic villainy. Orm has plenty of reasons to hate Arthur from his perspective but does still act for Atlantis" benefit as he sees it and comes to realize that he doesn't really know Arthur. Arthur realizes that he's a flawed king, but he keeps on plugging away as best he can. The rest of the cast is used fairly well and not overly distracting in any way.

Is it the best superhero movie out there? No, but it's a very solid entry in the genre an if DC had more like it, they wouldn't be in such a state. It's easily as good as any GotG movie and very similar with a more serious tone. Solid 7.5 out of 10 from me.

Sounds like a job for an AoE-Surface Suppress.

I loved the Adam Warren runs on Dirty Pair especially Start the Violence!. Oh, both series are available on Crunchyroll with commercials, or without if you have a premium account.

And for the anime style take...

And for the anime style take...

Or this ...

Both are shows about a team of agents backed by  a galaxy-wide police force. Dirty Pair is high tech James Bond while Kiddy Grade's operatives are super powered espers.

Watched Blue Beetle on Max last night and came away disappointed.

The characters are great at first. Jaime and his family come across as real in their introduction, with even the one crazy uncle being tolerable. The love interest is well done. Even the villains are relatable, though Susan Sarandon's portrayal is too stereotypically corporate evil.

But then you're jarred out of the vibe by the inconsistency in the levels of violence, the total absence of any police even as crowd control and comical ability of Jaime's family to stage a commando rescue raid. The plot hinges on too many contrived problems and the entire conflict could have been resolved with a few calls to the police and media by our love interest/heroine.

It was better than Shazam!-Fury of the Gods, but it couldn't decide if it wanted to fit that younger viewer plot style or be a more adult superhero film. I'd watch another film about these characters if I could be assured that the plot was tighter than something written by a newbie GM.

Overall, 4 out of 10, good characters and SFX poorly written.