greymankle

Re: Arcanus: Story Thanks Didn't orginally plan on the Noir feeling. After re-reading I see it. Too much talking to himself. Need more characters for some dialog. Darn loners. -Peace

I'm still waiting for the books to stat out my world. So I thought I'd write a short story to flesh it out some more. Let me know what you think. Part One -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Burning diesel fuel and cigarettes. God this place reeks, Carlos thought to himself. I’ve been waiting for this hack, who calls himself a mechanic, for over two hours. Enough is enough. “Hey man! When can I cruise outta here? You said this was an easy job!†As if a response, another part of Carlos’ baby rolls out. Only stop next to a pair of grease stained jeans sticking out from under the fender. “Well mate, whoever tweaked your hover system really nodge’d it all up. You’ve got more generators than your capacitors can ‘andle.†This voice came from somewhere to the left of the legs. “I re-routed your forward stabilizer so it syncs up with the rear boosters. You should keep more speed in the turn without gettin’ that feelin’ like your keister is gonna shake loose from your boots.†At this point the legs grew into a full person as something rolled out from underneath the bike. Carlos was now looking down at a grease covered, hairy gorilla. The gorilla said he was human but Carlos wanted paperwork. “Now if you want a ride that will keep you from the five-oh, I suggest you go back to your chair and pop a sim in or something. I got work to do.†Carlos returned to his seat and picked a magazine. He never even considered popping in a waiting room sim. Sure it took you away to some tropical beach for a few hours. Meanwhile your meat-bag is left dead to the world. Might as well hang a sign saying “Please Rob! - keys are in my left pocket†Settling in for the wait he took stock of his surroundings. Dingy chairs, racing posters, and a ragged counter. He never liked these dual-purpose shops. The sign out front says Jeffries Generator’s but the bulk of the work is tricking out skids. I just came in for a tune-up. It rattled a bit I wanted it fixed. This jerks got half the engine torn apart, what did I expect, being from off-world. Carlos wasn’t from around here that’s for sure. Originally from the south side of New Detroit. He made his creds running things around town. Break it down to brass tacks and he was nothing but a high paid delivery boy. Call it what you want the money was good. As Carlos rested his feet on the large black case containing his “add-ons,†he stared up at the counter. Can’t be more than another hour, don’t know why I’m in a hurry. Haven’t gotten one job since landing on this frozen rock. Back in the New D he worked for somebody. He did what he was told and took what he got offered. Not that the Yaks were a bad people. He got all respect that a new Mexican working for the old Japanese deserved. None. During one of his runs he slid down by the star docks. A.F.D. Spencer was headed out to Neptune. When he saw the freighter was offering up an empty seat he took it. Dropped of the package at its home and was waiting for lift-off in 30 min. No clue what waited for him but if he was running from the Yaks he had better run far. Back in the present, he rested his hand, inside his coat, on the handle of his Cobra and drifted off to sleep. “Hey this aint no hostel.†a rough boot kicked Carlos awake. The gorilla was back. ‘sides, your skids done.†Finally. As he rose to peer over the counter his baby came into view. The trip in the freighter had not been kind. The front wings were dinged and the paint scratched. The gorilla must have replaced the broken windshield. “I didn’t ask you to fix the glass†muttered Carlos. I am not paying for that. “You also didn’t ask me to up your out-put 30%. Also re-zero’d your targeting system and got you a new seat. Nice and cushie†The fur covered face split into a smile, showing a fairly human mouth in definite need of dental care. “Yeah and what are you going to charge me for that? I ain’t made of creds†“Nothing†“Ok sure, then what do you want for it. Even gorillas don’t work for free.†Carlos regretted the comment as soon as it left his lips. Whatever, if he wants to do charity work that’s on him. I don’t owe him anything. “I got a friend just out of the zone. He needs some engine parts to fix up his ship. You delivery them out there and you can keep the mods. I’ll even throw in a grand for your trouble. Easy job there and back†There and back. I’ve heard that before. I got nothing better going on. “Alright gimme the grids and the stuff, I‘ll do it†beats standing in the cold. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Never claimed to be Charles Dickens. Just trying to get the imagery of Arcanus. Any thoughts? -Peace

Re: Collimating/Reflex Sight oops nevermind just found it. Barret M82A1. That's a great chart you've got there. I'd rep you if somebody told me how. -Peace

Re: Collimating/Reflex Sight I think I'll bow gracefully out of this conversation. Once you start bringing SOPMOD into the mix you're out of my level of expertise. Hey Fox1 you seem to be pretty up on firearm conversions. I peeped your website but didn't find what I was looking for. Do you remeber that bolt action single shot .50 cal sniper rifle? I want to mod it up to a 6-10 shot clip. Do you have this converted somewhere with the AP/RP listed? I'd love to see a link. -Peace

Re: Red Stars: campaign Well here's my try at making Walker and Ramsey with HeroMachine. I know we have Storn the wonder artist in our group, but here's my take on the characters. Not a lot of choice with poses. -Peace

Re: Character for Review: Pinky Very cool. I love HM 2.0 also. Definately winning parent points. -Peace

Re: Collimating/Reflex Sight I agree on the sight picture comment. but if the artificial sight solved the problem it has to have some merit. How much merit for someone who can already shoot? can't say. Like I said, I'm not a mechanics guy. I just wanted to put in my thoughts on what a holographic sight was. Now that I'm thinking about it, the holographic sight would only really work in rifle long distance work. Usually in CQM you don't have time to use the sights, where having the collimiating sight would help more in the CQM situations. -Peace

Re: Collimating/Reflex Sight When I'm think of a holographic sight I'm thinking of laser sight that doesn't beam out to the target. The rear sight is replaced by a inch and a half veiw finder that creates a floating red dot. The dot only appears when you are looking down the barrel at the right angle. It has more benifit than a regular laser since it's very good at long range. No one can see a little red dot on a target at 300m but this floating dot is right there. Plus for a sniper there is no dot on the target to give it away. As for OCV benifits? I am not game mechanic guru, anyone has read my posts know that. But to me the benefit granted by the sight should figure into how much better the shooter becomes with the sight. I have a real world analoy for you. When we were qualifying at the range to come over here, one of the guys had a sight like this on his 16, he buys every neat toy for his weapon. He shot expert 39/40. He's a high speed, good shot anyway. Another soldier shot 15/40. She is not a good shot. On her second go around she borrowed this sight. After she re-zero'd she shot a 32/40. That's a big improvement in my eyes. We qualify out to 300m so I wouldn't discount these sights. They work. The collimating sight is just a brightened-up front sight post. You can get the same effect breaking open a glow stick and wiping it on the front sight. That type of sight I have never used. Never needed it. I don't do CQM. But I can see it only helping bring the weapon to bear quickly. If you can't shoot long distance, having a glowing front post wont help. I'll talk to the guy who bought the holo-sight. I think he got it form Brigade Quartermaster. If I get link I'll edit and post it. -Peace

As in Beauty and the Beast. Disney version. No Belle but still has the castle. I'm trying to enter a PBEM game but I have no access to books. I knew the boards would be my salvation. Help me out here. 150 Pts with 150 disads. Many thanks in advance, -Peace

Re: Red Stars: campaign Easy enough; done Right he's the guy who just uses as much force as is required. Originally I had his job as sort of a one shot contractor. It got him out of jail if he went "state side evidence" with his contacts. At least the ones that would work for the military. Then that job ended, he was out of jail with nothing to do. Might as well go into the military. ok I can see that. so instead of leaving his contract job he laterally moves into a continuing support role of the Authorized Black Market Dealors. works there for a few years then gets the offer for Red Star. Now to clarify most of the dealors he knows about are back alley types. Not military personel. I can still see him travelling to bases to see which Sargeants had enough street smarts to be of use. This he could be doing as the junior officer. Some butterbar somewhere. I like the growing web analogy. I'm thinking it will be tough to maintain the alter-ego. I could see you travelling as a Red Star but that wouldn't work well either. What about a trusted partner? With your promotion someone had to fill your shoes. He/She is completely your lapdog though. Reports on findings directly to you. They would be compentent, hand picked by you to fill your shoes. Not a DNPC just a more trusted contact or maybe follower? Graham's expertise is in real world black market contacts, this guy knows military more than him. maybe? Well one of the myths of Red Star teams is that "They never Sleep" They are the ultimate QRF. So moving around the base weaving your web is ok. Moving too far out or off-planet doesn't work as well. But when ever the Red Stars visit another base you could take some time for a little spinning. I would say visiting another base is a good replacement for being hit on the head with a dictionary. But we play at your house. You're always there. I agree. You should have a constant network being nutured. I just think it will grow easier with a deputy tilling the ground. You have already created an established base when it was your job. The hard part is done. The new guy just does maintnance. Well he's a high end fighter now. a little below where Damian was. Bioware will put him over the top. The only bioware I was going to give him was maybe some re-wiring of his nerves for added speed. Maybe some 'roids to build muslce. I can see him without it, though he'll be a lessor combatant. Looking forward to playing it face to face. we can keep ironing out the changes. once we agree I'll Edit the background to reflect it. -Peace

Re: Red Stars: campaign I'm hoping that by the end of character creation you guys should feel that your team can take any challenge. After all you are Red Stars. Each character should have a niche ready to be called into action. But outside their niche they are still a competant team member. One guy can find him, another tracks him, another sets the explosives. I really want establish a sense of teamwork in this game. Good point. I'm thinking English will be fairly prominent. It's the language of bussiness. The various cultures of present earth still exist. English is at least a second language for most people. Some AE's might have developed Chinese or Japanese as it's dominant language. So language skills can be added to Nathan's list of skills. Easy enough with headware memory. Plus maybe a little mimicry for those accents. When you hear you can do it sort of a thing.

Re: Making a Brick in DC Honestly I haven't gotten that far. The campaign I'm putting together is still in the creation phase. It will be my first attempt at GM-ing Hero. The way I'm going about it is by creating the first party of pre-gens then scaling, with the help of many people on these boards, the world to match. I do have a CP limit though it will be around 300 for this group. Mostly spent on skills, contacts and such. My game seems to be swinging between a low-level supers game and DC. -Peace

Re: Making a Brick in DC Thanks for the help guys. I like the high defense, low offense. I'll probably sink some more points into non-resistant PD. I already have the non-combat skill in mind for her. Once agian thanks for the help. I think I've got the idea. -Peace

Re: Red Stars: campaign As for powers, SA Walker will be fairly competent in HTH. Some bioware help makes him able to bring a knife to a gun fight. Well at least a handgun fight. Light armor to not constrict movement. Decent presence. He'll have some Perks to let him spend RP on street level or maybe military gear. Of course they can get what they need from the base. but "if" they end up stranded somewhere he'll be able to make do. Anthony will probably have the least metal cyberware of the group. Most of his stuff will be bioware. Cyberware tends to make brute fighters, SA Walker has more skill than brute force. Skills: Anthony will have a variety. Lot's of KS and contacts. streetwise (obviously) He'll probably end up being the most well rounded. Not the master at anything but dealmaking. And that's hard to put in a skill. I may give him some light weaponsmithing/armorsmithing mostly for maintance reasons. -peace

Re: Red Stars: campaign Ok here's the second character Special Agent Anthony Walker -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow the money. Every job had a trail of transactions. Every crook had his payday. Corporal Anthony Walker knew this better than any man on the base. After all it’s how they caught him. In his youth CPL. Walker was a high level fence. He was well known and good at his job. He knew the people, he knew the jobs. If you had some weapons you needed unloaded he was the man. Armor? Vehicles? If he couldn’t get it he knew someone who could. He’s mixed company with Mafia Dons and common thugs. He’s met CEO’s with huge defense contracts and lowly coffee girls just making due. In his mind they are all the same. Each one puts his pants on one leg at a time. Anthony’s downfall came in the form of a request for a hover bike. The contact wanted it tricked out and ready for any work that may come up. Of course Anthony had just the guy. Once the bike was made they arraigned the meeting. Anthony showed up with the bike. His contact, Dark Moon, came by with the cash. Well Dark Moon had apparently spent more time tattooing his handle to his right arm then he had in actual work. The cops followed Dark Moon right to the meet. As soon as the exchange was made they descended. Dark Moon already had the bike, so he was off to the races. Anthony tried to run to his car but the cops cut him off. They took the money, and they took his reputation. After they beat him senseless of course. Anthony was sentenced 10-15 years in Arcanus Correctional. He wasn’t a violent criminal so he didn’t land in maximum security. Now when he was working, Anthony never saw a need for handles or fake names. In his mind they just got in the way. You could argue a little anonymity would have helped his situation but here in the A.C. he had his friends. He was owed enough favors for enough jobs that his time was fairly easy. The only beatings he got were from the guards. Once he found out that a certain guard liked wine from a hard to reach vineyard in Mars. Well, even those beatings stopped. Prison seemed to fit Anthony pretty well. The gym was available to those with good records. Or those with good bribes. Anthony had both. He had always enjoyed physical combat. He picked fights with kids on his block. When he was older he joined a martial arts school to help him protect himself at meets. If you got caught with a gun you were deemed violent. But here in the A.C. he was taught things about hand to hand you would never learn in a studio. He had almost forgotten about life on the outside. He spent his days in the gym sparring or out in the yard making deals. When Lieutenant Colonel MacMillen came to his cell, he hadn’t the foggiest idea what it could mean. LTC. MacMillen had a job for him. The military was expanding it needs through out the AE’s. Supply lines are tough to maintain and the military wanted a new solution. They were forming a team to find and authorize military black market dealers. People that military personnel could go to incognito, to re-supply without breaking cover or coming back to a base. They wanted Anthony to advise. He was sentenced for 10-15 in the A.C, he only spent 3. For his efforts in creating the network his was granted a pardon and a job in the military if he wanted it. After working with the military he knew his criminal network was over. Why not try the military? His prior criminal record limited his choice of jobs. So he landed in the place he knew he’d be anyway: supply. His job as a paper pusher did not sit well. Acquiring thing legally was not nearly as fun as illegally. His military record was prefect. Excellent shot, good reviews. He even won the base boxing tournament. Anthony’s 4 year military contract was coming to a close. He knew he wouldn’t get promoted, he couldn’t get another job, so he was looking to get out. 2 weeks before he was out he was called into , now, Colonel MacMillen’s office. Once again MacMillen was saving him from boredom with a job offer. Col. MacMillen was heading up the creation of the third Red Star team. They would need someone familiar with “acquisitions and procurement†and was curious if Anthony wanted the job. He was packed and ready in one hour. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neil? Thoughts? If you're not ok with the prior criminal part we can change it. I thought it accomplished both, grace under pressure and the dealer/fixer part. any other lurkers? thoughts? -Peace

Re: Red Stars: campaign I definately will have Nathan pay points for the mindlink. Other Radios will be bought with RP. How would you stat out the disguise power? Low level shape shift? I don't want it to be able to create an exact duplicate. Just change nationality and apperance for the undercover missions he has done in the past and will do in the future. -Peace

I'm trying to create a brick for my up coming sci-fi game. We are using pre-gens and the player wants a brick. The game will have periods of time when the players will not be in full gear and other times when they will be loaded for bear. Equipment is bought with Resource Points and the group will be a military unit so armor is available. I'm having trouble finding the balance. The player wants to soak damage and "Stand there and take it" Easy enough to do with good armor. But if the brick is wearing the good armor why can't the rest of the party? Then they are all bricks. If I give the brick more inherent powers like DR or rPD the brick becomes permantly ready for a fight. So if I throw something at them as a surprise the brick will out-shine the other players by far. Plus with the inherent abilities AND armor it will be very dificult to hurt this character. You could argue: That's what a brick is for. But the character would still out shine the others. Right now I'm just thinking really high body but that may not be what the player wants. Since I'm using Pre-gens already I want to cater a little to their wants. I'm sort of asking for some of your experiences out there. Have you guys built bricks that balanced well with the party? Am I just thinking about this too hard? If a player wants a brick then he should stand there and be better than the rest of the party. He's a brick. I'm probably just rambling. -Peace

Re: Red Stars: campaign Sounds like a plan. Here's how I wanted to the communication to work. C&C has mindlink with Nathan. Nathan has mindlink with Other party members. Party members have radios that can communicate with each other, Nathan or C&C on the proper channel. but the mindlink is more secure, preffered blah blah blah. Of course the team needs to have back up coms if Nathan goes down. All soldiers in the military have a tracking locator on them. Nathan has the ability to see the locations of his troops superimposed on whatever map he has available. -Peace

Re: Red Stars: campaign I'm sure you'll be able to handle the leadership role well. Glad you like the name. A LRRP in Viet Nam? Woah, scary. Now I'm nervous I do it justice. Tell him thanks for me. Remember that your background is in LRRP. Currently you are a Red Star. Some missions will play on the LRRP Training others wont. Do you mean like a heads up display of their GPS locations? I could see that. A grid coordinate is useless without a map to match it too. We use something similar out here where you can get a real time sattelite photo of your troops/ enemy troops. Of course it isn't inside a bionic eye but you get the point. As long as it was something that you uploaded yourself. You would need to find blueprints from another source. This wont let you see out of their eyes. well the military has congealed into one large organization encompassing, Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force, police, CIA, FBI, DEA, and any other acronyms I can't think of right now. I'm saying as a LRRP guy you will have a knowledge of basic miltary equipment types and such. But the more complicated piloting of said vehicles will be under someone else. Of course you will know how to drive though. Even in the future the military wont let anyone take a plane and go. Each starship has a pilot. You may have knowledge of one but not the skills. I'm leaving that to the driving guy. (if anybody picks one) I'm trying to write up a base package that all Red Stars will have. I'm thinking something similar to the Green Beret in DC but modified heavily. Remember that Red Stars shouldn't be heading into a modern battlefield as regular troops. As a LRRP guy you have knowledge of the SMG equivalent. If needed during Red Star duty you can grab one but it isn't "ol' reliable" that you take to every interveiw. Unless you want to and then I can deal with it. If a Red Star is bunkered down on the front lines something has gone seriously wrong. They're skills would better serve behind enemy lines. And yes if you were dropped in behind the lines I could see you having the SMG equivalent.

Re: Guns vs. Armor I'm glad you brought this up. I was wondering the same thing. The game I'm planning it for has a much higher tech level so I can change guns and armor up a notch hopefully even them out. For real world: Remember that most armor is only bullet-proof in the chest/stomach and back area where the plates are. And the helmet is bullet-proof too. The rest is there for shrapnel for explosions and such. And even that doesn't cover arms or legs. Supposedly they are coming out with some kevlar pants but they won't have plates in them. Sure a bullet in the leg may not kill right away but it sure would wound a guy. The kevlar, I believe, can stop up to a 9mm bullet without the plates. But if your heros are running around in Lvl 3 your villians should have access to something more than a pea-shooter. I think the 9 PD from the book is with plates in. in the area without plates it should be more like 5 or so. Maybe you can lower the acitvation roll on your armor or divide it up more specifically with hit locations. That's a bit more paper work but it depends on what you want. Or you could add in more realistic injuries/ bleeding. DC talks about it a little. Just a couple of thoughts. -Peace

Re: Red Stars: campaign How did I know it was Vector that had the only AVLD in RDU history? Do I need to worry about points if it's an environmental attack? Like falling damge? Or are the points just figured out for balance issues? -Peace

Re: Red Stars: campaign OK here's my first character Special Agent Nathan Ramsey. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After being turned away by The Travellers, Nathan Ramsey joined the military. He wanted to see all the worlds. The Travellers only took those already super human, or cybernetically enhanced. Being a normal guy from Earth he wasn't high on their cut list. The military took all comers. He was stationed on a remote AE gate to Farm World near Jupiter as a communications specialist. There were maybe 20 personel at the gate at any one time. Security was handled mostly by automated computer system. So, when some AE pirates attacked the resistance was minimal. The gate put up a good fight but the pirate hacker was able to get inside their securtiy system and shut it down. Luckily the pirates just wanted the station. They sent the survivors in a junk craft hurdling through space. For 2 weeks they drifted. Unable to get comunication or navigation they were at the whim of the world. The crew began to submit to cabin fever. The fear of dying slowly from lack of oxygen was not appealing to most. Their Captain tried to make off with the space suit thinking he could fair better on his own. A mutiny broke out. The angry mob was close to killing and eating their own leader. Sargeant Ramsey stepped in. He was able to quell the rebellion through logic and words. He acheived peace for another few days. Their ship's siginature was picked up by a passing patrol 2 days later. The ragged crew was picked up. The Captain relieved of command and the more active mutineers were punished. Once they were on-board they were told of the stations fate. The Pirates held it ransom for three days before detonating it and destroying the gate. There were no leads. The crew had forgotten most of the info. Their 2 weeks of drifitng ruined most minds. Though Ramsey had faired better than others even he had lost faces to time. However unlike the rest of the crew he had written things down early in their trip. For his presence of mind Ramsey was awarded his choice of assignments. He didn't even think for a moment. LRRP, Long Range Recon Patrols. He would travel after all. His first mission with his new team was acting on the intel he had gathered about the pirates. The military always gets there man, or in this case woman. Jenne Jacobson was arrested for cyber and space terrorism. She was found in an out post on Mars. Through her "de-brief" the military learned of the existance of BLADE. A new terrorist organization working towards anarchy in Arcanus. Ms. Jacobson is presumed in military custody to this day. Or dead. Ramsey worked with his LRRP team for 8 years. Travelling around through AE's or diferent planets on this AE tracking people down. His team specialized in Urban enviornments, undercover work, survalance. During that time he showed courage, creativity, resolve, and above all that one factor that couldn't be faked with cybernetics: Leadership. When he got call from the Deputy Director saying a new Red Star team was forming he finally threw away the Traveller brochure he been hanging onto. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The cyberware the Red stars recieve amplifies natural talent. So for Ramsey this will be leadership and undercover type work. I don't have Sidekick yet so no numbers on the stats or powers. but heres what I want Special Agent Ramsey to have. Cyberware: Headware memory, Bionic eye-camera with video capabilty, internal radar-type system , an internal radio, a commlink (mindlink) to his teammates along with the ability to read their GPS signature. Probably a smartlink type firing system for pistols. But his big thing is his body. Most of his flesh has been replaced by a mealable polymer. (space silly putty) So he can change his appearance through re-molding his features. Fiber optics have been inlaid in his skin to change skin tone. His hair has been completely replaced with fiberoptic cable. It can change length and color but always remains somewhat shiny. This color change can aid in stealth (but not a full-on cloaking device) and provide a moderate blending effect in combat if desired. I don't know if I'm going Combat luck with that or just some extra DCV's with that SFX. He dislikes wearing armor since his M.O. is more stealth and the armor can't change colors. Skills: disguise (with his polymer), small arms, fairly good with pistols, KS: communications, PS: radio guy, KS: BLADE, some combat actions from DC prolly, I was looking at "evasive" to compensate for wearing little armor. see DC page 91 Thoughts? and more importantly Storn: Can you/ would you play this guy? -Peace

Re: Red Stars: campaign Haven't heard of Stand Alone Complex, but I did want to include some CSI type stuff. Especially since one character specidically wanted to know forensics and criminology. Is that something I could get Brigit to send out to me? I can watch DVD's out here. I'm guessing it's an anime of sorts so it should be available in A^2. Plus I have plenty of time for research. I have heard of, and love Cowboy Beebop, their gates were the basis for the toll bridges. I wanted to add a non-gate travel for for more dramatic movement. I think 3 sounds the best. I hesitate to make hackers buy power defense simply to avoid dump shock. Theroetically you shouldn't dump shock all that often as long as somebody is guarding your body. I'll have to look up AVLD a little more once I get sidekick. Does it basically mean you can only use say, 5 mental defense no matter how much you have on this attack? I am ok with dying from dump shock (on a bad roll not all the time) since attacks on the 'net can back feed into the user via electricity. I may have fuses built into the EQ to avoid such attacks but if the fuse blew the user would dump shock, which may be worse than the attack. Glad to hear your hyped, just need to hear from the other PC's Well without sidekick I don't have stats for them yet. I am ok with posting the general descriptions but I only have 3 of the 6 (I invited Matt too since he's now local to you guys, haven't heard back) possible PCs. I am spreading skills around to mimimize cross-over. You are a team that was put together. They would make sure all bases are covered. So if I need to make you less good at something to make it another charcaters speciality don't lynch me. for instance Storn wanted a leader/spy. So I gave him both but if another character comes in wanting the spy niche solely I'll have to give the cool spy stuff to him and give Storn 2nd tier spy stuff or maybe a different type of spying. Like one stealth and the other disguise or surveilance. Well actually Storn would have first dibs sinec he was first. I'm ok with jack of all trades characters I just don't want two masters of the same trade. So I'll post the descrpitions of the initial Ideas but I reserve the right to change as required. You guy's need to promise not to get ticked, before I post though. but if your checking out your character and you don't like the jist I don't mind modifying. These are pregens just so I can handle the stats not so I can shoehorn you into skills or personalities. Give me some time to type it up. Right now they are on notebook paper. I'm on the road for the next three days I should get sometihing up by Friday though. -Peace

Re: A Dark Champions PBEM: Dawn of Heroes sounds sweet. I'll be sending an e-mail

Re: Red Stars: campaign Thanks. Not availble online? Some systems have text files of basic rules you can download. Just asking. Going back to Neil's comment about supers. I've got three characters mapped out already. I need sidekick to do the numbers. I went back and looked at them. So far each one of them has an ability or enough 'ware to be considered super. I guess this will be a low level super game. However the abilities are not neccesarily combat oriented powers. I don't want to up the level of leathality just becuase they could be considered super. I just hope this will alow them to exist "normally" more often becasue they will feel comfortable in their abilities. If each mission they need to grab power armor just to survive. it wont have the feel I'm looking for. Abilities-wise nothing is bigger than a Secret World (one of Neils campaigns) level power. It's just a character could have more than one power. In Secret Worlds ever power had to fit this description "It could almost be explained by science.." Since science is more prevalent in this world, I can't use the phrase but the level of power it created worked well. Anyway here's my take on the internet: Anyone with a computer/ headset and visor or network plug implant, can surf the net. Go to VR chat rooms and do e-mail. Basic stuff. They can even enter secure sites with keycode entery. However everything they do is "allowed." Nothing beyond what the site/building was intended. Without some moderate computer skill to create an avatar they wont be able to modify or hack inside the net. An avatar can be created by anyone. There is a large illegal bussiness of buying and selling avatars. Avatars can be stored in headware memory or in your laptop. Most top hackers use network jack implants since they can think faster than they can type. I'm debating using the Misc. catagory of Resource Points for avatars. They are a form of equipment albeit purely digital. Actually hacking within the net is just like the real world. The lockpicking skill represents password hacking. Movement powers get you to better locations. Combat is combat. The problem is: I don't want you to be able to buy your way into being a good hacker. The avatar is simply software you need to know how to use it. I'm trying to figure out how to have a character's computer skill raise or lower the avatars ability. If we have a computer roll before the lockpicking roll it could get pretty irratating with all the extra rolls. Maybe one computer roll for every host you encounter? or one each time you log-on? Instead of rolling maybe I could just use the base skill as an indicator. -12 is average -14 you get a +1 bonus, -16 +2. Or a high computer skill gets you more RP to spend on avatars since you can handle the higher end stuff? Has anyone out there used this? What mechanic did you go with? Also Dump-Shock. For those not familar with the term dump shock is when your wire gets cut or ripped out of you head. You exit the internet focribly. I can have it do XdX whatever stun but what should resist it? ED/PD/MD? armor obviously wouldn't help. How much would defense against dump shock cost as a defense power? Anyway again thanks for the help. Once this gets going I'll post write-ups so you all can see the fruits of your labor.