bigdamnhero

Re: Costume fixation (Get your mind out of the gutter) Another vote for red & blue Spidey-wear. Also possibly the only superhero costume that looks as good on the big screen as it did in the comic. I also used to love Dr. Strange's get-up, with the cloak and the Eye of Agamotto or whatever. As for women, one of my favorites was always Ms. Marvel's blue-with-lightning-bolt-and-red-sash. Worst costume? I gotta vote for the X-Men's yellow spandex. U. G. L. Y. bigdamnhero "You got somthing against gutters?"

Re: CHAR: Wonder Woman 110 STR seems high to me, but it depends on who's writing her. Sometimes she seems "bench-presses-cars" strong, next issue she's arm-wrestling Superman. Apart from that (and the SPD and rPD issues already discussed), that's a great write-up. bigdamnhero "Smoke me a kipper, Skipper, I'll be back for breakfast!

Re: Magic as skills Ah, sorry, yes, in hindsight that seems...Obvious. Although increasing the END cost will limit how many spells you can cast in a row (without resting), but not how many you can cast in a day (or an hour or a year or whatever). An END Reserve with a slow REC sounds more like what you're dialing for. Other possibilities might be imposing "x charges per day" limitations, or expendible spell components that take time & effort to prepare. It depends. If you limit the VPP to "known spells", and then give them a list of known spells, it would work pretty well. The length of the list is fairly arbitrary, though. Just choose whatever seems right for the characters in question. Right, I should've been more clear. (Good thing CO is here to translate for me today!) All spells have to be learned ahead of time, either by having someone teach it to you, by copying it from their spell book (or equivilent), or by researching it yourself (normally a very time-intensive process). Existing spells can also be modified in the same way. So if you have 30 points in your VPP, you can cast any spells you have learned of up to 30 Active Points. You could even allow players to cast spells that exceed their VPP, but the "excess" power rebounds on them as a Side Effect. The max number of spells players can have in their list might be tied to the size of the VPP (1 spell per 5 AP is what we used), or you could leave it open-ended. We used to call it the Invariable Power Pool. In some ways it works more like a Multipower, but players don't have to pay points for their spells.

Re: Magic as skills

Re: tackle

Re: Space combat: how big is an inch, how long is a turn? You make a compelling argument for what space combat would not look like. But I'd be curious to hear what you think it could look like, in game if not in reality. Not trying to be cantankerous, but I would like to hear how you would run it, given the assumptions & examples you've used? bigdamnhero "Wars are not won by respectable methods."

Re: Space combat: how big is an inch, how long is a turn? I realized I made a mistake in my earlier post where I said that the Empress IBV's 42" of Flight equals 8Gs. According to SH the 5†flight = 1 G rule is by segment, not by phase; really 60†per turn equals 1 G. Using that calculation, the Empress IBV’s 42†of Flight and 3 SPD calculates out to just over 2 G, or 8 G at (x4) non-combat speed. Ah! I had missed the 1†= 10km scaling for the nukes – thanks! Yeah, I understand why they wanted to keep it as open-ended as possible for SH itself. Problem is it’s difficult to put together any kind of coherent system until you start making some choices. I would’ve liked to see sample space combat systems, the way FH has sample magic systems. And I really was hoping for a bit more specificity in TE +/or AW. Lemme think this through a little. For purposes of discussion, let’s say “typical†ship combat speeds range from 10kps (escape velocity) to perhaps a few thousand kps. [Assumptions: an 8G ship making a 500 million km trip (Mercury to the asteroid belt), assuming max accel for half the trip followed by max decel for the second half of the trip, will hit a max velocity of 6000kps (0.02 C) at mid-point. Yes, I know that’s a lot of assumptions, but as I said we have to make some choices. YMMV.] Anyway… at 1†= 10km, that gives us scale speeds up to 600†per second, which is going to be pretty hard to keep on the tabletop. If we trade up to 1†= 100km, that gives us speeds up to 60†per second, which is much more manageable. And if we postulate that most battles are likely to be fought closer to one end of the journey or the other (ie – not at max velocities), then we’re looking at more like 1-20†per second, which sounds like Hero Scale. At that scale, the slowest speed you’d be able to reflect on the map would be 1†per turn, or 100km per 12s or 8.3 kps, which is close to escape velocity! So 1†= 100km seems like a workable number. Another way to look at it is: How big are planets compared to the map? Earth’s diameter is 12,800km, which at 1†= 10km gives us an Earth 100’ across, way bigger than the room. At 100km Earth is 11’ diameter, and could perhaps be one edge of the table. If we went up to 1†= 1000km, our scale Earth would be 13†across and could fit on the table. At 1†= 10,000km, Earth just about fits in one hex. Again, not saying there’s a right or wrong answer here; just playing with numbers to see what feels right. bigdamnhero "In jazz, there are no right or wrong notes; only good and bad choices."

Re: Hard Science....easy descriptions. "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Nyrath again." Thanks for reposting that thread - I'd missed it the first time around! bigdamnhero Sheridan: “So you believe all this?†Sinclair: “I believe it.†Marcus: “If Entil'Zha believes it, I believe it.†Ivanova: “I'll be in the car.â€

Re: Simplification of Combat

Re: The Forbes Fictional 15 He gives away millions, if not billions of toys every year. That's a heckuva tax break. bigdamnhero “Zathras is used to being beast of burden to other people's needs. Very sad life. Probably have very sad death, but at least there is symmetry.â€

Re: Variation on Game Mechanics: Dice Pool Seems like there's the potential for some equity issues (real or perceived) between players: "How come I spent 20 character points on luck, but everyone gets the same benefit from them I do?" Probably easily addressed, but worth considering. With the right players this could, as Steve suggests, really foster team spirit; with the wrong players, it could lead to endless bickering over "Dude, I wanted those ones!" You know your players better than I do, obviously. Overall, it's a bit too aggressively-wacky for my tastes, but it sounds like that's what you're dialing for. I'll be curious to hear how it works out.

Re: Space combat: how big is an inch, how long is a turn?

Re: Space combat: how big is an inch, how long is a turn?

Re: Space combat: how big is an inch, how long is a turn? I didn't say it was a perfect solution. Still, with sufficient launch velocity and dense enough materials, you don't necessarily need a terribly big projectile. I would think a ship the size of a Star Destroyer could carry a lot of ball bearings. bigdamnhero “You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!â€

Re: Space combat: how big is an inch, how long is a turn?

Re: Simplification of Combat ...and it's not like there aren't plenty of other reasons to prefer Champions over M&M, even with these changes. bigdamnhero “What the hell are we supposed to use, man? Harsh language?â€

Re: It's almost 5AM and I'm thinking about Space Combat Ah, I had missed that, thanks. I still like the idea of different-ranged weapons, but that’s an easy mod to make on the user end. Spacemaster…my head hurts just thinking about it… Exactly. Full Thrust has a vector movement system that models this pretty well without getting too complex. (I try not to plug other people’s games on DOJ’s website, but at least it’s a minis game not an RPG.) Now that y`all have got my juices going, I’ll see if I can whip up a conversion to SH.

Re: Simplification of Combat Now that's an interesting idea! I'll have to try it sometime, especially for fights that are meant to just be an annoyance rather than an actual challenge. Repped! Edit: "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to AmadanNaBriona again." Will you take an IOU? bigdamnhero "Smoke me a kipper, Skipper, I'll be back for breakfast!

Re: Which supers movies were better than you expected, which were worse? At least Helen Slater looked good in the costume. Actually, that's about all I can remember from that movie... bigdamnhero “Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!â€

Re: Space combat: how big is an inch, how long is a turn? Yup. In movies & TV it's a necessary evil because you have to fit both ships on the screen. But in RPGs it makes no sense.

Re: Space combat: how big is an inch, how long is a turn?

Re: It's almost 5AM and I'm thinking about Space Combat

A spinoff from the "It's almost 5AM..." thread: According to TE, the Empress-class Battleship has a maximum sublight speed (non-combat) of 504" per turn, which translates to a not-exactly-stellar 190mph. At that speed, it would take 52 days to travel from the Earth to the moon. In fact, since it's 250" long, it can only cover it's own length twice per turn. Obviously, that doesn't compute. I know SH says "GMs may wish to establish that each hex on the map is larger than 2 meters," but there's nothing in TE or AW (that I can find) specifying what the "official" scale is for those settings. Is there any kind of "official" ruling? Whether there is or not, what do most folks use? Or do you even worry about it? Related question: do you mostly use mapped or unmapped (intercept?) combat for space combat? bigdamnhero

Re: Which supers movies were better than you expected, which were worse? I try hard to keep my expectations low going into comic book movies, because so many of them are so bad. I'd rather be pleasantly surprised than let down. The first X-Men is the best example, just because for me it was the first superhero movie in SO long that didn't completely suck. Sometimes I'm still disappointed (ie - Daredevil). Better than expected: Batman Begins Spiderman 1 & 2 Incredibles X-Men 1 & 2 Mystery Men Unbreakable bigdamnhero “As the days go by, we face the increasing inevitability that we are alone in a godless, uninhabited, hostile and meaningless universe. Still, you've got to laugh, haven't you?”

Re: Hard Science....easy descriptions. I can think of several different ways to answer this, depending on what you’re really saying: Q1: I want to run a campaign that is focused on science and discovery, but my players just want to shoot things. A1: You have a disconnect between what you want and what your players want. Not dissimilar from someone who wants to run a 4-color Champions game when his players want to play Dark Champs vigilantes. Not much you can do but have a long conversation and agree on something everyone (including you) can enjoy. Q2: I want to run a campaign that is grounded in realistic science, but my players just want to shoot things. A2: As ThothAmon rightly points out, the two are not mutually exclusive. No worries. Q3: I want to have a large number of non-Earth-like planets and non-humanoid aliens, but my players want to romance green-skinned Orion slave girls. (Who doesn’t?) A3: The science you want to use doesn't allow the types of stories your players want to play. This is a harder one. I prefer to keep my science on the believable end of the spectrum, but truly Hard Science is extremely limiting in terms of the types of stories you can tell. So I normally try to keep most things realistic, while introducing a certain number of rubber science concepts – as few as I can get away with and still tell the stories we want to tell. The trick is to make the rubber science elements seem as realistic as the real elements, which mostly means thinking it through so that there are a set of consistent guidelines for how things work. Again, you probably need to have a talk with your players. The advantage of RPGs (over film or TV) is that the characters can all be wearing full suits without slowing the story down, and blobs of space jelley can have every bit as much personality as any other NPC. Q4: I want to have a lot of “technobabble†in my game (whether real or rubber science), but I have a bunch of poets & lovers who aren’t interested in learning that stuff. A4: So you've got a disconnect between how much science you want the players to know/use and how much they're interested in. I agree with Keith – do all the hard work yourself and slip them little bits as they become relevant to the plot. I like to develop brief summary sheets on “Here is how ____ works.†Their primary purpose is to make sure I have it all straight in my mind, but I can also make them available to the players to read (in between sessions) if they’re interested. If your players aren’t interested, then you’ll probably have to keep doing most of the heavy lifting. But in my experience most players eventually get tired of the GM saying “You can’t do that because I said so†and want to figure out how it works for themselves. Hope one (or more) of these helps. bigdamnhero “Is this gonna be a standup fight, sir, or another bughunt?â€