bigdamnhero

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

I've never been happy with the way Hero handles vehicle combat, going all the way back to 3rd Ed. Having said that, I haven't actually played with Hero vehicle combat in a few years, so I too am having trouble coming up with specific examples.

The last time I ran space combat I used a modified version of the Full Thrust miniatures rules, similar to what they did for the B5 RPG. Yes, it's a "new" set of rules, but FT is a pretty easy system to learn. It allowed me to have multiple ships per fleet (some played by PCs, some by the GM), and still leave room for PCs (pilot skill rolls add to the ship's screens level, etc). And any PCs who didn't have much to do in the combat (like the medic and so forth) could just run other friendly ships.

BTW, the Full Thrust rules are available as a free pdf from: http://www.gtns.co.uk/store1/commerce.cgi?page=downloads.html&cart_id=8124431.15129

bigdamnhero

“Seasoned? That’s a hell of a thing to say to a man!â€

Re: The Forbes Fictional 15

They did a previous list a few years back [quick search] http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/13/400fictional.html

Since 2002, Luthor rose from #8 to #4; Mr. Burns rose from #11 to #5; and Wonka slipped from #6 to #10 (blame it on the movie).

Dropped out of the top 15:

JR Ewing

Auric Goldfinger

Charles Foster Kane

Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas' character in Wall Street)

New to the top 15:

Jed Clampet (how did they miss him last go-aroud?)

Arthur Bach (blech!)

Lara Croft

Lucius Malfoy

bigdamnhero

“Rasputin, bring in the bucket of soapy frogs and remove his trousers!â€

Re: Horror for Superheroes.

The Dark Claw idea has potential, but it depends on how you would plan to use it. If the heroes can't fight it and can't get away from it, what DO they do? Where/when/why does it appear and attack? Does it just bloody them up and then leave? If you can build an interesting plot around it (I'm half asleep today, so no ideas are coming to mind) then it's a neat idea. Otherwise it's just a way to make your players feel helpless. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's not the same thing as horror.

I've always found horror is far more about tone and mood than anything else. It's hard to do horror in a 4-color game, because players don't expect dark things to happen. Which doesn't mean you can't surprise them from time to time, but surprise isn't the same as horror. It's the anticipation of bad thing happening that truly defines horror, not the bad things themselves.

bigdamnhero

“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it." - Alfred Hitchcock

Re: Statting out a Gamemaster

Change Environment: Establish mood.

Lightning Calculator: Only to add up d6s.

Fringe Benefit: Final arbiter of rules questions.

Universal Translator: all NPC languages to English (or whatever).

Disad: Poor (from having to buy ALL the books).

And for the really good ones...

Mind Link and Mental Illusions: only to make players believe they are in a different reality.

bigdamnhero

“Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?â€

Re: Experience Points

I would think in a "traditional" (if that's even accurate' date=' hence the quotes) schema that Group B would be ahead because they completed objectives for which they''ll get XP atop the session XP, so they go on to a new set of objectives in session 2 whereas Group A is still working on the same objectives in session 1.[/quote']

Umm...yeah okay, I was thinking in the "micro" not the "macro." Good point.

 

Regardless' date=' I like mixing awards for both, because I don't see why a group should similarly be unduly penalized for not achieving some sort of preordained objective should the RPing take them elsewhere. I think staying just on objectives makes for too competitive a form of play.[/quote']

Another good point. I certainly don't want players to feel they have to rush through a session so they can get more XP next week.

 

And I should've been more clear in my earlier post: while I award XP at the end of an adventure, how long that adventure took to play is a factor -- it's just not the primary factor. I don't have a formal system, I just sorta swag it based on:

1. How well they accomplished their objectives,
   
2. how well they roleplayed,
   
3. how high the stakes were, and
   
4. how long the adventure took.
   

I should note that I have been known to run rather long, complicated adventures that are intended to run several sessions. I find that awarding XP this way encourages players to move the story along, while not shortchanging the players because the storyline I planned for 2 sessions ran for 5.

 

Group A should get more XP for the entire adventure BECAUSE they did that extra planning and took the time to make sure everything went smoothly.

If it's a matter of them taking the time to do more careful planning, I absolutely agree. But I've also played with groups that seem to want to spend all night planning the simplest operation, beating the same dead horses over and over again, until they've talked themselves in circles, and at the end just decide "Screw this, I kick the door in." I'm all for good planning, but more isn't always the same as better.

 

I don't like basing XP on "Physical Time Spent" in most occasions ... it doesn't always work that way from a character POV.

Right. How long the adventure takes the characters to complete should be a consideration, but that may or not be the same as how long it takes the players.

 

 

bigdamnhero

“See how I'm not hitting him? I think I've grown.â€

Re: Experience Points

I hand out XP by the adventure, not per session. Partly because I don't want to have to worry about character updates each and every session. But mostly because I think experience should be awarded based on goals acheived, not how long you spend at the table.

Let's say Group A is playing an adventure, and takes 2 sessions to finish out the story. Maybe they spend too much time checking out a dead-end, or spend half the night planning out the attack in excrutiating detail, or maybe they just spend half the night BSing and trading movie quotes.

But Group B plays the same adventure, pushes through it agressively, and wraps the whole thing up in one session. Should they get less XP than Group A for playing better (or at least quicker)?

bigdamnhero

“See how I'm not hitting him? I think I've grown.â€

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

"Are you now or have you ever owned a VW van?"

I could explain the content, but it would lose something in translation.

bigdamnhero

"You do know you're talking to a man with live ammunition? You know that? Okay, good, just checking. Now go on with your bull$#!& story."

Re: "Mostly Harmless" powers

I think both of those need Usable As Attack. Other than that nitpick' date=' I really like these ideas.[/quote']

Why UoA? It's making money, not punching people.

Well, I suppose if you *really* wanted to you could throw bags of cash at people, ala Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2. Or duplicate them in mid-air over your opponent, ala Bugs Bunny.

 

 

bigdamnhero

“Your mouth is moving. You might want to see to that.â€

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

I forgot this one from a couple weeks ago. A player new to Champions (but not to gaming) had thrown herself on a grenade to protect nearby civilians. After finding out her force field was strong enough to not only save her life, but prevent any serious wounding:

"That's all the damage I take? Being a superhero is cool!"

bigdamnhero

“The grave opens up before me like a...big hole in the ground.â€

Re: Luck and examples of luck.

Kudos (and rep!) to both Sean & DR! I'd never thought of it that way (let alone done the math) but a 10-15 point "get out of trouble" VPP is a good way to think of it.

I've always swagged it much more generally: 1 point will turn barely-hit-you into just-missed-you. 2 points will turn a solid hit into just-missed-you. 3 points, anything goes. 4 points, the audience cries out "Oh get real!" and reaches for the remote control.

The only specific example I can call to mind was from my very first Fantasy Hero game way back when. I was playing a gambler-rogue character (sortof a fantasy version of Brett Maverick) who had 3d6 of luck. At one point, the Big Bad I'd been trying to avoid had finally caught up with me and was going to mash me into a pulp. I got in a lucky leg shot (his legs were the only place where his armor was light enough for me to penetrate), but it wasn't quite enough for an impairing wound. But I rolled (I think) 2 points of luck, so the DM ruled it was an impairing wound after all. I then kept circling around to his right, forcing him to put weight on his injured leg - DM ruled that put him at enough of a disadvantage to give him a DCV penalty (and maybe even an OCV penalty, I can't remember), which gave me just enough of an edge to win.

bigdamnhero

“Why should I trust you?â€

“Because I have the gun!â€

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

From a male player running a female NPC:

Followed by rolling a 5 on a seduction roll!

bigdamnhero

“I stole the candles from the chapel. Jesus won't begrudge them and the chaplain works for me.â€

Re: I just got Pulp Hero

And if you like TMP' date=' hopefully you'll be equally as impressed whenever we get around to doing "Post-Apocalyptic Hero" (whatever the title might be). It's a genre I enjoy myself and am looking forward to delving into at some point.[/quote']

That's one of my favorite gaming genres too, ever since the original Gamma World. In fact, I was just looking at my old Morrow Project book the other day and getting itchy dice hands!

 

How far down the list is that one? (Or put another way, how long am I going to be stuck in anticipation mode?)

 

 

bigdamnhero

“If you're a prince, there's hope for every ape in Africa.â€

Re: Help with Serial Killer story

Y'all got me thinking, so I re-read (well, re-skimmed) John Douglas’ Mindhunter looking for other RPG-usable serial killer ideas. (Douglas is the near-legendary former head of the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences unit, and supposedly the basis for Scott Glenn’s character in Silence of the Lambs.) Many of these have been mentioned before:

• “[M]ost of these guys are angry, ineffectual losers who feel they’ve been given the shaft by life…”
  
• Most start out with lesser offenses (or just weird-but-legal behavior) before progressing to more serious crimes.
  
• Serial offenders mostly fall into one of two categories: organized, who plan their killings methodically; and disorganized whose victims tend to be chosen situationally/impulsively.
  
• “[W]hile few police officers go bad and commit violent crimes, frequently serial offenders had failed in their efforts to join police departments and had taken jobs in related fields, such as security guards…”
  
• Even more common are “police buffs” who hang out in cop bars and so forth. Apart from giving the offender “the vicarious thrill of a policeman’s power” it frequently gives them an inside link on the progress of the investigation.
  
• Similarly, many offenders “insert themselves into the investigation” by contacting the police with bogus information, tips, or by claiming to be a witness.
  
• Many violent criminals really do return to the scene of their crimes, either out of remorse or a desire to relive the crime; similarly, some killers will visit the graves of their victims.
  
• Another common trait is to keep some “trophy” from the victim, such as a ring or necklace, and then give that item to his wife or girlfriend. This both allows the killer to relive the excitement of the kill, but also mentally asserts his control over his partner. [ick!]
  
• “By their very nature, most serial offenders are good manipulators.”
  
• Many serial offenders closely follow press reports of their crimes, and even respond to the press coverage. For example, if he sees on TV that the police are searching the wrong area for bodies, he might deliberately leave his next victim in that area.
  
• The two most common “triggers” that send people over the edge into killing are: losing their job, or losing their wife/girlfriend.
  
• Most serial offenders operate alone, of course, but there have been a few cases of them working in pairs.
  
• Serial killers rarely stop of their own volition; when a string of murders suddenly stops, one of three things has happened: the killer has been arrested on an unrelated charge, he has moved to a new area, where he will soon start again, or he’s committed suicide.
  

FWIW, he doesn’t talk much about killers communicating with the police or the press, and doesn’t state anything about how frequent or infrequent it may be. Only in a handful of the cases he discusses was this a feature, and they’re all ones we’ve already mentioned. At the risk of beating a dead horse, it occurs to me that another reason this may seem more common is simply that killers that do communicate with the police or the press tend to get more press coverage.

(Incidentally, Douglas firmly believes that the Jack the Ripper letters were NOT written by the actual killer. He said the same thing about the pseudo-copycat “Yorkshire Ripper” case in 1983, and turned out to be right.)

Some other quotes that I found interesting:

“In adults, it seems the only time you hear about multiple personality disorder is after someone is on trial for murder. Somehow, it never comes up until then… I’ve often joked that if you have an offender with multiple personalities, I’ll let the innocent personalities go as long as I can lock up the guilty one.”

“True psychotics – those who have lost touch with reality – don’t commit serious crimes very often. And when they do…they are generally caught fairly quickly…. [F]or a killer to avoid detection and get away with ten murders, he has to be pretty good at it. Don’t make the mistake of confusing a psychopath with a psychotic.”

Paraphrasing here, but Douglas’ complaint about the mental health community is that many of them rely too heavily on self-reporting, and many criminals are clever enough to tell them exactly what they want to hear. “[One convicted criminal] said that if I gave him a copy of the current edition of DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and pointed to any condition described in it, by the next day he could convince any psychiatrist that he was genuinely suffering from that affliction.”

“Our research has shown that virtually all serial killers come from dysfunctional backgrounds of sexual or physical abuse, drugs or alcoholism, or any of the related problems.”

And at the risk of veering into NGD: "More police and more courts and more prisons and better investigative techniques are fine, but the only way crime is going to go down is if all of us simply stop accepting and tolerating it in our families, our friends, and our associates.... Crime is a moral problem. It can only be resolved on a moral level."

Whew! Hope some of this is of use...

bigdamnhero

“Damn you! I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star!”

Re: Help with Serial Killer story

I gave two examples; I don't have access to them all, but I know there's more than "3" in the 20th Century. However, I didn't refer to them as commonplace nor did I mention it was a rule. Make sure you don't confuse your generalization of "people" with "Kirby," we're different entities.

 

As a reminder, I'm just trying to help someone with a direction in his campaign, I'm not here to play "my serial killer fu is better than your serial killer fu."

Not what I was trying to do, and my apologies if you thought I was trying to put words in your mouth.

My point is simply that the leaving-clues-to-taunt-the-police thing is far and away the exception, not the rule. I don't know the numbers either, but I'd be amazed if it's even 1 in 100. But a large chunk of the general public - who may or may not be named Kirby - believe that the reverse is true.

bigdamnhero

"You will all go directly to your respective Valhalla's.

Go directly, do not pass Go, do not collect two-hundred dollahs."

Re: Exclusive: A Serenity Sequel?

Awesome if true. We'll see...

bigdamnhero

“Cancelled TV shows don’t usually get made into major studio pictures... We have done the impossible, and that makes us mighty.†– Joss Whedon

Re: "Mostly Harmless" powers

so ... this mean you're looking at starting the New Champs campaign again soon :looks hopeful:

Actually, this particular question was for one of the con games I'm putting together. But I promise I haven't forgotten about the home campaign. Soon. Any day now. (I hope.)

bigdamnhero

"I'll send the boat back for you."

"When?"

"Soon!"

"How soon?!"

"Very soon!"

Re: I just got Pulp Hero

Major kudos for this one' date=' Steve - this may well be the best game supplement I've ever bought! [/quote']

Gotta agree with that one. I just got my copy last week too and I'm loving it. Last time I got this excited reading a game book, you might have to go all the way back to the original Morrow Project...

 

And the discussion of racism and sexism in the 20s & 30s alone puts Pulp Hero well above 99% of American History textbooks, most of which skip straight from "Lincoln freed the slaves..." straight to "...and then in the 1960s the civil right movement began."

 

 

bigdamnhero

“I was fine when existence had no meaning. Meaninglessness in a universe that has no meaning – that I get. But meaninglessness in a universe with meaning…what does that *mean*?â€

Re: "Mostly Harmless" powers

Somehow when I started this thread I'd completely forgotten about Alan Moore's "Top 10" series about an entire city where everyone has powers of some kind. My favorite was the blind cabdriver who had this zen ability which gave him the unerring ability to always take you where you need to go (whether or not it's where you wanted to go.) Except of course...he was still driving blind so he couldn't see the other cars...

Then there was the two-faced (literally) police dispatcher, who could receive reports with one face and dispatch officers with the other. Of course, she had a tendancy to argue with herself...

A less helpful power was the Human Airbag guy who, when under stress, inflated into an enourmous beachball.

Darn, gotta go re-read that again.

bigdamnhero

"...and that’s when I shot him, your honor."

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

In a fantasy campaign, where one character has a "symbol of death" cast on the inside of his hat for last-ditch emergencies, after we found out it wouldn't affect the rest of the party:

Which somehow reminds me of a Pulp game awhile back. One of the women players was running this (to all appearances) ditzy secretary, who kept whining "Isn't anybody going to help a lady with her bags?!"

Then we got jumped by ninjas, and the "ditzy secretary" took out 2/3 of them by herself. After which, all us guys were falling over ourselves to carry her bags for her!

bigdamnhero

"Jayne, your mouth is moving. You might want to see to that."

Re: "Mostly Harmless" powers

This one reminds me a bit of the power with women that the Fonz from Happy Days has. He snaps his fingers' date=' and a pretty girl comes over to him. [/quote']

And of coures, let's not forget his ability to instantly repair any non-functioning electrical device by simpy thumping it.

 

On a side note, would anyone else like to see a supplement with low-level paranormals in it? I have always been slightly bothered by the idea that the majority of mutant powers seem to be tailored to crimefighting, with comparitively few minor or disadvantageous ones.

I think it's an interesting idea, and one I'm looking to flesh out a bit in my campaign (hence this thread). But I'm not sure I'd pay money for it, to be honest.

 

 

bigdamnhero

“This is for ladies only!â€

[unzips fly] “So is *this*, ma'am, but every now and then I have to run a little water through it.â€

Re: Help with Serial Killer story

Probably' date=' but to clarify, it's not merely [i']fiction[/i] (not true), but non-fiction (non-not true ). It's a bit late and I haven't "refreshed" myself with serial killers in a while, but I believe the Zodiak Killer mocked the police with clues, and possibly the Boston Strangler as well.

Yes, but you're talking 2 or 3 cases in the whole of the 20th century. Not exactly what you'd call commonplace. But because just about every fictional serial killer leaves clues to mock the police, people have this idea that it's the rule rather than the exception.

Before Jack... there was no classification of serial killer. But there were far too many people to count who had much higher body counts than him, and were much more grisly butchers throughout history. It is only our modern era, and the structure of our new societies that deem these people the abberrants that they are.

 

Sure, there were many killers in the past. But they were often seen as doing what was neccessary, or warriors, or despotic leaders. But never out and out serial murderers. Modern press made the paradigm shift, and really turned them into celebrities. This is also what ended up fueling many of them to kill more and more as a result.

Well, partly, but there are several other factors at work. Before the modern era:

• If someone killed a bunch of prostitues and other "undesireables" polite society just ignored it.
  
• Previously, such crimes had been blamed on vampires, demons and what have you. Jack resonates so strongly in part because it was the first time people realised it was a human being doing such things.
  
• There was essentially no police work the way we understand it today. So there was really no way to even identify that you had a serial killer. The public would've had no expectation that the police should catch the killer, so there's no outrage when they fail to do so.
  

bigdamnhero

"I'm not a liar. Not in this instance anyway."

Re: "Mostly Harmless" powers

Oh' date=' and nice Jaye Tyler quote! You likee [i']all[/i] the series that Fox cancelled too soon?

"Cancelled in mid-season by Fox" = quality.

Thanks for the ideas, gang - these are just the sorts of things I'm looking for.

bigdamnhero

"So, how long have you been using the Republican Party as a lesbian dating service?"

Re: Mutant detector

In the Champions setting' date=' UNTIL has mutant detectors that are hand held. Actully, the unit that does mutant detection also detects other things like radiation and such. Regardless, the device is expensive, so it's not handed out to every field agent, but they are common enough that you can expect any agent to be able to obtain one in short order. [/quote']

Thanks! That's what I was wanting to know.

 

I take it the detector is in the UNTIL booK? (The one I don't have yet?)

 

 

bigdamnhero

"Well, my days of not taking you serious are certainly coming to a middle."

I don't know if there's an "official" answer to this or not, but I'll also take "how do you handle this" answers:

How common are mutant detectors in the CU? Are they hugely expensive, or relatively affordable? Are they handheld, or do they require a full lab? Do they require a complete blood work-up, or just a simple scan?

What made me think of this is I just noticed the IHA Minuteman robot on p145 of CU does NOT have any ability to detect mutants. I guess IHA has to wait until they've figured out someone is a mutant before sending the robots after them? (I know IHA is opposed to all superhumans, not just mutants, but they do seem to hate mutants more than other metahumans.)

bigdamnhero

"Just once I'd like to fight an alien menace that wasn't invulnerable to our weapons."

I'm looking for some ideas for non-hero mutants, who have powers that are beyond the ken of mortal men but not of much use in combat/crimefighting.

I'm not looking for completely useless comic relief stuff, like "causes lightbulbs to glow in 10' radius" or "can transform boxers into briefs" and the like. I'm thinking of low-level powers that might be moderately useful in real life but doesn't qualify you to put on a cape and take on Dr. Bad. The kind of powers the Hero's kid-sister DNPC might have. Ideas?

bigdamnhero

"Oh, yeah, this is a laugh-riot. This is where I would most like to be - standing in the freezing cold being called a liar by a nun and coerced by a Wax Lion to commit crime. It's so much fun!"