Zeropoint

Re: Sci-fi wear swords?

A pirate without a cutlas just isn't a pirate, after all.

Re: Who knows physics?

I humbly admit my ignorance of transparent fluorescent materials, and my gratitude that the other board members can fill in the gaps.

Re: Sci-fi wear swords?

Regarding the above arguments: If my "melee weapons" you mean big knives and machetes, then yes, by all means they will continue to be used in the future, for the same reasons that they're carried today. A large knife isn't much of a load, but it's a very useful tool as well as a dependable backup weapon. A machete is nearly indespensible for roughing it, and makes a good weapon if it comes down to that. Axes, either wood axes or fire axes, will always have a place. You might even find short shovels with very sturdy square blades, the edges of which are much sharper than a shovel needs to be. Don't forget crowbars, either; they sure seem to work for Dr. Freeman.

Anything that has value as a tool will stick around, and still be in use in the future. Many, if not most, of the useful tools will have the potential to be dangerous if "misused".

Furthermore, I agree with the assessment of dealing with opponents wearing armor tougher than the ship you're fighting in. That's a very good reason to develop a powerful melee weapon. However, no matter how powerful they were, they still wouldn't have any range, and would be at a disadvantage in a gunfight.

Zeropoint

Re: WWYCD: The Vampire Who Doesn't Want to be a Vampire Anymore

Special Agent Trent would listen to her story with his arms folded and a stern expression on his face. When she was finished, he sigh softly, and remove his sunglasses.

"I understand your situation better than you could guess--or did you come to me because you knew that? Never mind. The point is, I know what it's like to have power, and a curse, forced upon you. I know what it's like to have urges that aren't part you driving you to do things that horrify you. Only by the grace of God are my hands free of blood.

"I can't condone what you've done, or the lives you've taken. However, your death would be an appropriate payment for your crimes. If you want release, I can give it to you."

Re: I Speak to Dead People

You don't need any kind of "power" to talk to dead people. They're fantastic listeners.

Getting them to say something back is the hard part.

Re: Sci-fi wear swords?

Yet, despite all these arguments, which apply today as well as in the future, nobody carries a sword as a weapon anymore.

Re: Who knows physics?

The word you're looking for is "fluorescence". This phenomenon occurs when a photon encountering an atom has a high enough energy to raise an electron two energy levels, and the electron subsequently drops back to its rest state one level at a time, releasing photons of lesser energy at each step. Getting red light will not be a problem, you just have to pick a compound that emits red light when it fluoresces.

The problems are two-fold: first, there are, to my knowledge, no transparent substances that fluoresce, although I could easily be wrong; I haven't researched the subject. Second, this doesn't convert all UV light to visible--only those photons of exactly the right energy.

If you're looking for a way to convert all UV light to harmless and useful visible light, that would be pretty rubbery.

Photovoltaic cells and LEDs or something would be your best bet.

Zeropoint

Re: Wwycd: Doom!!!!

Special Agent Trent:

"What the **** do you expect ME to do about it?"

Then he makes a call, reporting Dr. D's location.

Re: Help with a power for character

Sounds a lot like the "wizard's sack" from Fantasy Hero, but with different special effects.

Re: "Neat" Pictures

I would definitely drive a Cityfighter.

Re: A Question on Liaisons

Special Agent Trent IS the FBI liason to the local super team, to his continuing disgust. His duties include getting relevant information from the federal databases to the team, getting information FROM the team TO the federal database, smoothing the team's interaction with various law enforcement agencies, and trying in vain to keep the team from causing more problems than they solve.

He hates his job.

Zeropoint

Re: A Question on Liaisons

Contrary to what Hollywood would have you believe, the Military (in general, no pun intended) is a meritocracy. People don't get put into positions for who they know, they are put there because of their skills/past performance. Which is why this write up comes off as being so unrealistic.

Are you talking about the same military that I serve in?

Zeropoint

Re: Explaining the Unusual Sense Group

Real-world examples of unusual sense groups:

Homing pigeons have magnetic iron oxide deposits in their heads which allow them to sense magnetic fields.

Sharks have organs which allow them to sense the electrical fields given off by their prey's muscles.

Re: Super Human Registration Act in 5th ed

The way I play it is that when the law was passed, it became quickly and readily apparent that it was COMPLETELY unenforcable, at least without turning the country into a police state with superpowered police. Today, registration is voluntary (at least effectively so). In exchange for registering and providing a general description of his or her powers (so the government knows who to call if a situation requiring certain powers arises), the super gets an electronic ID card which allows them to prove that they are the super in question, the right to testify in costume without revealing their secret identity, and no one else can register with their name (not that this guarantees no one else will use it).

Supers are not required to list their weaknesses or vulnerabilities, but it is known that the government collects publically available information on supers. Publically known weaknesses will become part of the database.

Zeropoint

Re: WWYCD: Demon: Man of the Year

During the heat of a confrontation with a misguided man who wants power, you decide to run through his room shattering several of the giant urns he has, only to release trapped powerful Demons and other nasties he'd succeded in trapping.

It's much more likely that Special Agent Trent would have broken the urns accidentally, through PK bleedover, excessive knockback, or by missing/spreading, or by picking them up and bashing the "misguided man".

Then a lot of unusual mail begins to arrive at your team headquarters for you.

 

One is a letter on very expensive business stationery inviting you to speak at the next Fundraiser of an outfit that calls itself "The Yellow Owl Society".

Trent glances over the letter, then wads it up and tosses it in the trash. He then writes himself a note to research "The Yellow Owl Society".

Next is a small package containing a set of risque' panties, a picture of a cute young girl and a letter that praises you in the highest possible terms. It ends "p.s. - Could you use a Slave ?"

This depends on a few factors. First, if the letter doesn't appear to be written by the girl in the picture, this is suggestive of human trafficking, which is something that needs to be investigated and stomped out. This would be right up Trent's alley as a relatively normal crime.

If the letter is from the girl in the picture, and she's underage, Trent will contact her parents/guardian, if possible, and explain the situation to them, reccomending that their daughter get professional help.

If the girl is of age, and offering herself, one of two things could happen. The most likely is that Trent would be puzzled and uncomfortable, and eventually just get rid of the letter and panties and wash his hands of the matter.

On the other hand, if the super team that he's been assigned to shepherd has been irritating recently (quite likely), he might write back:

After he mailed the letter, he'd realize that this could be an attempt to place a mole or agent inside the team, and have a full background check run on the girl.

Next is a letter from an earnest man who insists that if you want to make it in the Shady Occult Industry, you need him in.

 

The lastest DEMON newsletter has your picture on the cover as Man of the Year.

 

There is more, and more arrives the next day too.

 

WWYCD ?

Trent stares at the pile of mail, holding his head as if it hurts.

"This has got to be connected to those demons I accidentally released. Can't anything normal happen around here?"

Trent puts out some feelers with mystical orginazations like the Trismagestus Council and L'Institut Thoth, then grits his teeth and calls a meeting of the team.

First priority is tracking down and re-capturing the demons. He'll see to it that the man who captured them in the first place is questioned by someone who knows what to ask.

Re: Vehicle combat and regular weapons?

Thanks for the kind words, Lord Liaden, Zornwil.

Re: Tear Gas

When I went through boot camp, they put us throught the euphemistically named "confidence chamber" and exposed us to tear gas; I'm not sure exactly what variety.

I have no way of judging what the concentration was, but I didn't find it to be all that bad.

We went into the chamber with our MCU-2P gas masks on. In theory, this was to demonstrate to us that they worked. Mine leaked at the temple, and my eyes were getting irritated. It kept it out of my nose and throught for the most part, though.

Eventually, we had to take the masks off. The briefing video they showed us indicated that the gas would affect eyes, nose, and throat, but not lungs. Based on that, the first thing I did when I took my mask off was take a deep breath and note the effects.

That wasn't much fun, but I confirmed that I couldn't feel any effects from the gas in my lungs. My throat, though, was another story. It set off a coughing fit. I got that under control, and while it was definitely painful, with my eyes and breathing passages burning, the pain stopped increasing fairly soon at an entirely bearable level. I've had headaches that were far worse.

My eyes were watering, and as I stayed in the gas chamber, the irritation in my throat seemed to build up, and I started to cough more. I got really lucky in that my nose and sinuses were pretty much completely dry when I went in, and I didn't really have anything come out until we were leaving the chamber, and it wasn't much then.

Fresh air cleared up the effects pretty fast, but it DOES get into your clothes, and we all smelled like tear gas all day. For a few hours after getting out, we were giving off enough fumes to continue causing mild irritation.

Others in the group were more strongly affected. Most of them experienced copious nasal discharge. Some of them vomited. Some of them looked like they were about to pass out. Many exhibited signs of physical or emotional distress, which I attributed to fear rather than the physiological effects of the gas.

So, what does this mean in game terms? For the effects as I felt them, a change environment giving penalties to vision (watery eyes) and DEX (coughing) with an attached drain or suppress REC (coughing again; hard to breathe properly). Appropriate life support should block these effects, naturally.

Maybe a low-level Mind Control based on CON, set effect: "Get out of the gas!"

Some of the others looked like they were experiencing a STR and DEX drain, maybe.

Zeropoint

Re: The Old Races

So do you think I should keep the ancient civilizations as fallen, existing as nothing but ruins and the odd piece of leftover tech?

Well, the way I'm going to handle it (based on my interpretation of the Metroid games) is that the Chozo went Away some time ago. No one knows if they evolved into beings of pure thought, transferred themselves to another dimension, picked up and moved to a different galaxy, or what. What IS known is that either they didn't all leave, or some of them stop by and visit occasionally. Samus Aran is less than thirty years old, for instance, and she was rescued and adopted by Chozo after a Space Pirate attack on her colony.

Chozo ruins are scattered throughout the galaxy, but frustratingly little of their technology has been left behind.

Basically, they exist as background color and a mystery to explore, but there is always the possibility that they can show up and do something unusual and interesting when it suits the game.

Now, as to how YOU should play it, it's up to you. I hope my ideas can at least give you some food for thought.

Zeropoint

Re: Vehicle combat and regular weapons?

Maybe if you divide the total number of hexes in the vehicle by its BODY, you get the number of hexes you need to destroy to inflict one BODY on the vehicle?

Re: Vehicle combat and regular weapons?

That works great perhaps for a very large vehicle with modern weapons used on it.

 

But does the same analogy carry over to a knife thrown at a Cog or Junk - which is only a few hexes wide and maybe 20 or so long (give or take).

 

Obviously the throwing knife shouldn't be blowing out full hexes, but neither should a ballista or longbow (and in Fantasy Hero, longbows often do more damage than ballista when you account for the character using them - that was at least true in the game I ran when it came to the two skilled archers on each side).

Well, if your junk is three hexes wide, twenty long, and two deep, that's a total of 120 hexes.

I could see a powerful longbow or ballista punching through the hull of a large boat or small ship, but not destroying a whole hex of hull with a single shot, or even several shots. An axe, maybe--you could sure chop up a rowboat with a battleaxe. Otherwise, well, that "Real Weapon" limitation can sure be a pain.

Zeropoint

Re: Chronic Death Syndrome

So, does she need to be killed to die, or does she just up and die occastionally and then gets better? If she must be killed, that's a simple Resurrection Healing Regen. If she just up and dies at random, sounds like Simulate Death with NCC.

I think we have a winner. It's a little weird to PAY for something that's a problem for the character, though. Eh, at least it's cheap.

Re: Chronic Death Syndrome

Healing with Resurrection. Yeah, that would be the obvious solution, wouldn't it?

In the anime series Excel Saga, the character Hyatt Akatsugi has a medical condition which, in addition to making her weak and generally sickly, causes her to die frequently. However, she seems to "wake up" after some rest and be as good as new (which isn't all that great). Unlike Excel, who is frequently killed, and then restored by the Great Will of the Macrocosm editing the timeline so that she wasn't, Hyatt actually dies and comes back.

How would this be modeled? My initial take, given the comedic nature of the universe, is to just make it a physical limitation, Frequently, Fully Impairing (you can't get much more impaired than "dead").

The general sickliness would, I think, best be modeled by giving her a low BODY and lower CON, and maybe Susceptibility: Pretty Much Everything.

Of course, I realize that Excel Saga is not the best place to be trying to apply rational thought structure.

Zeropoint

Re: The Old Races

I have a Space Opera campaing trying to start itself, and I'm including elements from a number of movies, anime series, and video games. One of the games is the Metroid series, so I have the remnants of the Chozo civilization scattered throughout the galaxy.

I haven't really come up with any game use for this other than providing cool ruins here and there, although I suppose the PCs could find a weird piece of Chozo tech when the game starts to drag.

Zeropoint

Re: What Would Your Character's City Be Like?

Thanks to all those who responded.

Hermit, were you asking for a reason other than curiosity about other people's characters? I'm just wondering.

Zeropoint