Bloodshot

It's All About Paying Attention! I'm the GM for the game Rebar is in, and I think he nailed the problem on the head: they like to take the time to assess the situation and THEN decide what to do. As a player, I like to make sure I know what is going on so that when my phase comes up I've already decided what to do. As a GM, I don't want to start yelling at the players to "make up your goddamn mind!" when their phase comes up. Maybe an egg timer is necessary?

I was going to call this posting "Pointless Champions" but I felt that was opening me up for WAY too many puns and jokes. My current game has run out of steam due to a variety of things (we only meet once a month and illness and family obligations have stretched the time span out to almost 3 months now...) and I'm debating whether to continue or try something different. One of the players mentioned the idea of a high-powered game, so I immediately dug through my notes and found a Digital Hero article by Theron Bretz (hope I spelled it right), who has made contributions to Haymaker! as well like myself, about "pointless" Champions. The idea strikes me as interesting because I'm not in a group of power gamers who would be likely to abuse the chance to build characters without worrying about balancing the points totally. I would appreciate hearing other people's experience with this type of campaign. I've played with member's of Theron's group in a PBEM (and read their stuff in Haymaker! and Digital Hero), and they seem to be perfectly suited for such a campaign.

Same Old, Same Old... Nice to see you posting again Professor...missed hearing from you about joining our Steampunk game we've started up. I guess you're too busy with your other games now. For those not in the know, Professor M@ss used to play in a game I ran, and his characters were full of this lovely trick: Side Effects triggered whenever the character's multipower was drained and/or suppressed. I struggled with the idea and allowed it, though after watching his munchkinized character wreak havoc with my game I had only myself to blame for allowing it. The Prof is an unabashed power-gamer, so no appology is required. It's just a shame that I let the character wreck my game. So,to get back to the point of this discussion. I am in agreement with those who think that this setup is designed simply to give him points for nothing. In my game, he created two characters (one for him, one for his buddy) who had the same type of thing. The only problem was that the situation in which the Side Effect would be triggered was so unlikely to happen. When you've got a brick with adaptive defenses *and* a good chunk of Power Defense already in place, your drainer/suppressor opponent better be able to take you out in one shot or else it will never work. If you're a speedster who goes boom when your containment suit is breached, the Side Effect will never be triggered if nobody can actually hit you. Every once in a while I run across a player who forces me to examine characters very closely for their potential impact on my game. The Prof was one of those, and I thank him for it. No, seriously, I do.

Let's see...I've come up with a few for my superhero campaign. Most of them I've talked about in Haymaker!, but there are a few I 've never sprung on my players Let's see what I can remember: The Order Of The Serpent: A cross of Eastern and Viking mythology, it's a bunch of cultists trying to bring on the end of the world thorugh a variety of means. It's got cool cultists, nasty ninja-like foot soldiers. I think it is going to make an appearance in my steampunk game too. I'm also experimenting with a hi-tech mob family, but haven't figured out all the characters involved.

I'm facing a similar problem in the new steampunk game that I'm running. For so long I've run Champions games, where one shot doesn't necessarily take a guy out. We had a fight with one PC and two NPC's against a dinosaur (don't ask), and the dino (a 8-foot tall velociraptor type) could kill a human with one chomp. So, I pulled a few strings during the game to avoid the PC losing his left leg and right arm (using hit locations). It's made me realize that I need to pay closer attention to what the creatures they encounter can do. Not to mention that I need to re-read the 5E combat rules to see what I'm missing and what optional rules could be of use.

Well, I can only talk about what I know, and Lisa can correct me afterwards. Lisa had originally written this book up as a product for Hero Plus under the old regime. When the company changed hands, her contract got misplaced / lost, but she talked to the folks at DOJ and they agreed to give her a license to publish it herself. She pays a royalty fee to DOJ for each copy sold (I get a royalty too for my contributions to the book and work on her web site). If you have an idea, submit it to Hero Games. If they like it, they will probably make similar arrangements with you. What I can tell you too is that Lisa worked a LONG time getting this thing done (4+ years) and I was convinced it would never see the light of day. I'm happy it's published, even happier that her sales are exceeding her expectations. Lisa was the first to pubish a book under a license from the current Hero Games. I hope she isn't the last.

DISCLAIMER: I am the brother of the author of The Kandris Seal, so please don't hold that against me. I was wondering if anyone out there has gotten themselves a copy of The Kandris Seal and have any comments or questions about it?