BigJackBrass

Re: BBC Airship Article Yeah, I might just have to add this to my wish list! At least this is possible, unlike taking a trip in the old Clipper flying boats

Not quite the right era (by a long chalk!), but an interesting short article about taking a flight on an airship: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7041946.stm By following the links on the page it's possible to listen to the programme, From Our Own Correspondent, featuring this article, or download a podcast version. Fast forward to about twenty two minutes in if you don't wish to listen to the rest of the show.

Re: One copy of 'Lands of Mystery' available at Noble Knight Games! $35 does seem a bit steep. I bought two copies in shrinkwrap about eighteen months ago for less than that in total. Long since sold, I'm afraid.

Re: The ol' name game In the old kids' sci-fi series of the same name they were The Tomorrow People.

Re: A Gentlemen’s Duel "You must spread some rep" etc.

Re: Villains Vandals And Vermin (VVV) You need to be playing Star Ace. There's a whole race of those!

Re: Name that age: Some titles I actually read Oh wow, there's thread on that? Cool! Do you have a link, hmm?

Re: Orbital Skydiving! Wow. I guess we're not as far from the Traveller Personal Re-entry Kit as I thought.

Re: Doctor Who - Time Lord Regeneration Wish I could find the source (I'll have to check my books) but I'm fairly sure that after the idea of regeneration had been established there was a mention of Time Lords having seven "lives" or something to that effect. It could have been in one of the old Target novelisations, of course, so might not be screen-canonical. The length of time that a single incarnation of The Doctor lasts is something that interests me, and it struck me again last week after The Master triggered a particular event against The Doctor (kept vague to avoid spoiling things for anyone who has yet to see the penultimate episode). The apparent physical age of a regeneration does not seem to correspond entirely to either the Doctor's overall age nor to how long that particular regeneration has been around, otherwise it would seem that the Doctor is actually getting progressively younger! In the past it has been hinted at (or the "evidence" deduced from the show has suggested) that each regeneration does not age at the same rate as a human. Mind you, once you start looking at the various "Three Doctors"-type reunion shows it becomes obvious that little can be relied upon in that regard. And I wonder if the Doctor's vanity doesn't war against his pride when it comes to mention of how old he is. Overall, of course, you're entirely right: with any such adaptation the "correct" answer is the one you get to after deciding which parts of the original you are going to adapt. Fans of shows like Doctor Who and Star Trek can get a bit caught up in the details, and in attempting to resolve absolute consistency in an inconsistent source; I just like to look at all of the possibilities and then, being at heart an idle fellow, fudge the result EDITED TO ADD: Just watched the last episode of the current series and there's an interesting section regarding regeneration towards the end. No spoilers here, just a note that it's worth paying attention for a bit more regen info to add to the pile.

Re: Justice Inc. revelation

Re: Doctor Who - Time Lord Regeneration The trouble with modelling anything on a show like Doctor Who is the lack of consistency throughout the source material. The number of possible regenerations, for instance, was increased when the series had been running long enough to face hitting that limitation. We've also seen a possible future version of The Doctor beyond the standard twelve, The Master has exceeded the maximum several times through different means, there have been "unstable" regenerations, extreme healing abilities to damage done after the regeneration and numerous contradictions regarding how long each new incarnation lasts before "wearing out" naturally. Indeed, the amount of damage it take to trigger a regeneration varies wildly (from Sixth to Seventh it seems to involve falling over and getting a bump on the head). Although personally I'd probably handwave (hand-in-a-jar-wave?) it I like the look of your solution. However, I think that it might require a different solution for different situations.

Re: Justice Inc. revelation Yes indeed, the quality of the first version is also rather poor. Not that the second one is a mouth-watering piece of art, but it's an improvement. Still, after that phenomenal Brian Hamilton cover pretty much anything is going to be a step down I noticed the difference in the covers when I bought a new set a couple of years ago (amazing that shrink-wrapped boxes still turn up), but I'm not enough of a collector to have kept both copies.

Re: The Big Chill Really? I don't have that one. It shouldn't be too difficult to define the material in game terms, since unlike ice its properties are consistent, but as the ship was never built it would be a best guess situation to write up that particular monster.

You might recall his cousin, another somewhat eccentric scientist, from Thomas Dolby's She Blinded Me With Science, but few people know the name Geoffrey Pyke. That's a pity, but at least one of his inventions not only suits pulp gaming perfectly, it actually contained pulp. Wood pulp, that is. You can read about it here: http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/7/floatingisland.php A floating aircraft carrier made of ice, impervious to conventional weaponry, able to be repaired using the very stuff it was floating in. There has to be an adventure in there!

Re: Hero system complexity To my mind HERO isn't horribly complex so much as it is daunting. That's a big rulebook, without any comforting colour pictures or a pre-defined campaign setting. You're jumping in at the deep end. Of course, when you do jump in it quickly becomes obvious that the maths isn't as bad as its reputation (adding a couple of simple fractions or dividing an integer by five hardly matches the wild cries of "insanely complex math" I read so often on various sites) and the book probably has more examples and explanations than almost any other core book on the market. And that's even without Sidekick. For a player it's even easier, of course, particularly after characters have been created since the fundamental mechanisms for using skills etc are a doddle. The system is moderately complex, of course, there's really no denying that. Much of it may be optional and there are plenty of alternatives given for different elements, but HERO generally involves keeping track of a few things and using a whole toolbox of rules possibilities. Where it wins for me is here: In HERO the slight added complexity of things like different forms of damage makes a real difference to play and adds real depth, whereas in so many games the rules are often quite complex but offer little over some very simple systems.

Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game

Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game Following the Double XP Weekend last week I've punched, kicked and slapped my way to Level 31. And thanks to the rather absurd new economic rules I have, with practically no effort, acquired more than seventeen million influence, just by hitting things and putting the salvage up for auction. As a solo Scrapper I get so much salvage that I'm practically becoming a megacorporation. Surely things will have to change. There's way too much cash floating around right now.

Re: Changing direction mid-jump Exactly what I was hoping for. I'm not specifically building a character who does this, but I find it very useful with HERO to see how other people tackle a particular build problem or choice. The fact that there are many ways to handle something is a point I love about the game, but sometimes the old brain gets in a rut and I fail to see all of the possibilities, resulting in a run of rather "samey" solutions on my part. Your input and time is much appreciated, folks.

Re: Changing direction mid-jump Thanks chaps. Always handy to get other opinions on a build.

As abilities go this one is hardly Earth-shattering. HERO states that a character cannot change direction mid-jump. Fair enough, since I imagine we're into Flight/Gliding territory there. In an old issue of The Incredible Hulk (I can't say for sure which one, I'm afraid, although I know it featured The Leader and was probably drawn by Ditko - Growing up in England in the seventies meant that most American comics tended to be available in odd reprint volumes) the jolly greenskin does actually change direction during a jump "through sheer muscle control" or something equally daft. Ah, good old Stan Likewise, in the computer game City of Heroes jumping allows pretty much unlimited changes of direction. Neither example is realistic, nor do I disagree with the standard ruling, but to simulate either the computer game or Hulk it would seem that changing direction in this way would be appropriate. So, best way to do it? Is it even worth bothering with, given how rarely I've seen super-leapers like Hulk do it? (I'd probably hand-wave it for an NPC and fudge it as a one-off stunt for a PC, maybe a Strength trick) And have I in fact already missed discussion of this in one of the many thousands of pages of HERO material? Just idly wondering

Re: London Sewers & Pipe Subways Cute image I like a site with a sense of humour.

Re: Pulp Hero Resources It's the thought that counts

Re: Countries that don't exist (but should) Aha, we're back to Canada again!

Re: Pulp Hero Resources For early pulp agents this watch might come in handy (nice photos on the site, too): http://watchismo.blogspot.com/2007/05/watchismo-times_10.html More camera watches can be found on this page http://watchismo.blogspot.com/search/label/vintage And a little after the standard pulp era they would be able to get one of these: http://watchismo.blogspot.com/2006/11/spy-watch-who-loved-me-1955-protona.html Quite a nice site to trawl through, actually, because the descriptions and pictures are very easy to piece together if you want to create an authentic-looking pulp era timepiece with unusual functions. Slapping an old brand name on it adds that Bondesque chic Finally, I couldn't see a link to these Zeppelin floor plans anywhere, so here you go: http://www.rattrap-productions.com/PulpHeroes/Downloads/ScenicPDFs/zeppelingondola.zip

Re: Countries that don't exist (but should) Probably the most withering look I have ever received was when I said, straight-faced, to a Canadian friend that I loved Canada and thought it'd be great when it was finished...