bigdamnhero

Gigli was 14 years ago, and Affleck didn't direct. He did direct Argo, for which he received Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Directors Guild Awards for Best Director, not to mention a Best Picture Oscar. Most of his directorial work has been pretty well received.

I like it! We've never done anything this extreme, but it's common for my players to leave a few XP "in the bank" in case something comes up in game that makes sense. I'm lucky that my players aren't huge munchkins, so this is usually stuff like "Can we say so-and-so has been tutoring me in ___ for the last month?" and such rather than "I really need a specific AVAD attack to defeat this guy - can I throw those banked XP at it?" I agree it's generally fine as long as you don't have new/different powers appearing and disappearing week-to-week. (Tho even that wouldn't be inconsistent with many comics, especially in the Silver Age...) One of the most common "re-specs" we have is characters will want a VPP but can't afford it initially; so they start out with an MP and gradually add slots as they get XP until they reach the point where it's cheaper to convert the whole thing over to a VPP. And we generally only do rebuilds when I hand out XP, which is typically every 5-6 sessions or so. So it's not like the character sheets are changing every week.

There's apparently a petition to get Zach Snyder to direct the Batfleck movie. I don't know who these people are but they must be stopped.

Back on The Magicians... Fair points.

For awhile it looked like I might be relocating to DC, at least temporarily, but the gig didn't come through. So no help here, tho I do visit DC a couple times a year.

I forgot to mention: on February 11th, Gamers Giving (a local gaming-for-charity group) is holding a game day to raise money for a local gamer who has cancer and who's also facing major financial problems due to insurance company shenanigans. I'm running a Champions game, and my friend Jake Burgess is also running a Shadows Angelus game in Hero, and there are going to be a bunch of other fun games, and it's all to help a good guy who needs a hand. It's being held at Crit Castle in Aurora from 9am to 11pm. Sign up for games here, or just show up and we'll find something for you to throw dice at.

I've got nothing against a dude getting lots of sex. It's the "rape my brother's wife/fiance in front of her parents then make her watch while I kill her parents and then force her to marry me" episodes - note the plural - that I kinda have a problem with. And granted, after his conversion he was by all accounts a model Christian. Whether or not that washes away his extensive list of previous sins is perhaps a question best discussed elsewhere. But I don't think it's unreasonable that said ex-wives might hold a grudge.

I'm lucky that Denver has a large & active gaming community and local convention scene. When I first moved here I didn't know any other gamers, but I went to a couple conventions, played whatever sounded fun, ran a few games, and quickly met people who matched my style of play. Pretty soon someone asked me if I'd run a Champions home game, we recruited a couple others (most of whom had never played Hero before) and we were off. And whenever a player has to drop out, we have a reserve of folks we know from cons to draw from. (Denver also has a very active RPG Meet Up group that I know a lot of people have good luck with.) I do think it helps if you're not a total System Snob. Or if you are* you at least don't lead with that. I'm not selling Champions - I'm selling "Hey, here's this fun game we're playing! You wanna get in on this?" Similarly as a player: if I'd stuck to my I Only Play Hero guns when I moved here I'd still be gameless 12 years later. As for women gamers, I've never had a problem getting them to the table. Maybe because I treat them like gamers, rather than assuming they're there because they're someone's girlfriend. Seriously guys, if I had d6 for every woman I know who quit gaming because they got tired of that attitude, I could play Cosmic Champions and Star Fleet Battles side-by-side. * OK, I totally am.

Ironically my favorite C&D appearance was in Runaways, where they showed up to play ex-teen mentors for a couple issues. "Your secret origin is...drugs? You guys are the worst role models ever!"

I wasn't suggesting the latter. Heck, I only hand out XP after every 5-6 sessions because I don't want to have to updated my PC notes all the time. Obviously I can't speak for massey, but I took "between sessions" to mean "we don't do it at the table" not "we rebuild our characters between every session." OTOH as Ndreare sez some people just enjoy tinkering with character builds, so if that's what makes `em happy...

Heh, I was just coming here to post those. I haven't heard of any of the actors in question, but damn if they don't look the parts, especially the Runaways. And so far it doesn't sound like they're making a lot of arbitrary changes to the characters, which is a positive sign. I'm kinda lukewarm about Cloak & Dagger - I hope it's good, but I have no real emotional attachment to the characters - but I have high hopes for Runaways.

BTW, for those of you who still actually read comics, I'd love to hear what you're reading and enjoying these days. Got a whole thread for it and everything.

I agree the writing is key - the main difference between film and TV is on TV the writer is king whereas in film they're an afterthought unless they're also the Director. But they don't necessarily write the majority of the individual episodes: few individual writers whose initials aren't JMS can put out that many quality scripts on a weekly schedule. Even if you go back and look at Buffy, Joss only wrote a handful of episodes each season. What he did do was plot out the overall season arcs, approve or assign each individual episode idea, and approve/polish the individual scripts. To me it seems like there's been a certain amount of "title creep" with producers, where the title in and of itself doesn't necessarily mean that person has creative control. Or someone gets an Executive Producer credit because they have name recognition but they aren't actually involved in the day-to-day running of the show. And then you have things like the Arrowverse: 4 different shows that each have their own Producers, but Berlanti is the guy with the overall vision who keeps everything tied together. So "show-runner" has been adopted as an informal title to distinguish the one person who is actually, y'know, running the show.

Ditto. I'd rather lose a smidge of continuity rather than forcing someone to keep playing with a build that sucks or penalize them because they didn't think of the ultimateoptimal build right out of the gate. It's about the game, not the stats.

[quibble] If we used straight Move By rules, only half the horse's STR counts, so 14 STR would only add another 2½d6 for 8d6. Otherwise your math looks sound to me. Thinking about different approaches we might take: Falling characters take 1d6 per 2m/Segment of velocity. Assuming 3 SPD, 45m per Phase works out to 11m per Segment so that would be 5½d6, the same as a Move By w/o STR. Call it the equivalent of getting punched by an 18 STR brick with +2 DCs worth of martial arts or something - it'll hurt, but even a head shot is unlikely to be fatal. Knockback also does 1d6 per 2m, and while that's technically based on distance not velocity, in practice Xm distance of KB is the same as saying Xm/Phase velocity. So basically it comes out same as above, tho per KB rules if you're not thrown into a wall or tree you only take 1/2 damage, so barely 2½d6. That's too trivial to even mention IMO.

As a GM I'm willing to do some handwaving here in the interest of keeping things moving. But as a player, if I have attacks with +X worth of Advantages, and I have 2 CSLs that I could apply to that attack, it's not hard to work out between sessions (or at least between Phases) how much that is and either jot it down or remember for next time.

But that's still applying the attacker's STR damage as a result of hitting the rider with a weapon; but the horse isn't using its STR to hit the rider, nor is it necessarily adding to the target's velocity relative to the ground. I'm trying to think of a logical real-world reason why being thrown off a Clydesdale at 20mph would be any more damaging than being thrown off a pony doing the same speed. The Clydesdale's higher STR might make it harder for you to hang on, and I guess technically you're 1m or so further from the ground; but aside from that it's all going to be how fast you're going and what you hit. (And how you land, of course.) I'm starting to think straight velocity damage is the way to go. I used to know a few rodeo riders, including bronc & bull riders. But sadly I don't think I still have any in my contacts list for a Subject Matter Expert consult.

Here's another recent thread on the same topic with more examples of how you might want to build that.

Yep, that sounds like a VPP to me, with Power Skill: Weird Science to swap out gadgets and/or Inventor to create new ones. Play with the modifiers on the VPP to model things like how long it takes him to make new things, whether he needs access to a lab or can pull stuff out of his tool belt, etc. dsatow's not wrong tho about VPPs having the potential to really slow things down if not handled properly. Try to stat out as many "common" inventions as you can ahead of time so you-the-player has them ready to go, even if your PC isn't actually carrying them. Or invest in a copy of the Equipment Guide, which has a whole section on Weird Science gadgets. When I GM characters with VPPs, I make it clear you're expected to be working up whatever gizmo build you need before your Phase comes up; if I call on you and you don't have the stats ready, well clearly your character hasn't finished building it yet - better luck next Phase. Edit: You did say this was for a superheroic game, right? The answer might be different if you're talking about a Heroic game where everyone else gets their equipment for free.

Yeah, I think velocity damage would count for more than the height. I think for a normal fall I'd treat is as straight V/10* plus maybe 2d6 for the height. For a bucking horse I'd add in the Horse's STR, so basically treat it like a Martial Throw. Historically, even Kings have died from being thrown from their horse, tho that's less common in fiction. * That's 6ed using meters; or v/5 if you're using inches.

Old Man is right those are minimums not maximums. But Tuala Morn is based on Medieval Ireland, not Continental Europe, so the numbers are going to be way smaller than what you'd expect on the mainland. One of my players and I were just doing some background research for his Irish PC, and came across this article on ranks of nobility in early medieval Ireland. It doesn't specifically mention troop size, but the highest level of noble had a whopping 20 vassals and 20 free clients. (And got to live in a house that was 30' long!) So expecting a "Duke" to raise all of 100 soldiers doesn't seem too far out of line.

That actually makes some sense. Maybe too much sense for a DC movie...

I don't think they're so worried about being confusing as much as looking like a rip-off.

Star Wars game, arriving at Ryloth, where unbeknownst to us our previous exploits have made us minor celebrities. System Control: "Welcome to Ryloth! Good to have you back! Please land on Platform 3, where an honor guard is waiting to meet you. The Governor is looking forward to meeting with you later!" Artie: [cuts the circuit] "Get us out of here! No one's EVER this happy to see us! It MUST be a trap!!" [turns to the astrogator] "Jump! Jump now! Don't care where!" Astrogator: "The last time we jumped blind we wound up stranded thousands of light years beyond the rim..." Artie: "Yes, sounds lovely, let's go there!"

I think that's a big part of it - Fighting Nazis has too much moral clarity for the Snyderverse. But I suspect the driving factor was simply trying to avoid comparisons with Captain America. Let's be honest, outfoxing this iteration of Batman isn't exactly a high bar.