massey

I wouldn't allow it.  I know it's listed in the rules, but it's a really dumb idea.  I don't think they thought it through very well.  Clinging is a movement power, hence why it's so cheap.  You're basically looking at a cheap auto-grab that doesn't cost End, and we don't want to go there.

Grrk.  Sorry but that description makes my brain malfunction.  I would never ever understand that.  I mean, clearly it works for your group, but I've heard of people doing it that way and I just can't wrap my head around it.
 
I think of it the following way:
 
If you roll an 11, you hit a DCV equal to your OCV.  For every point you roll under 11, you hit one better DCV.  For every point you roll higher than 11, you hit one worse DCV.

That's true of any power though.  If the Human Fireball starts glowing white-hot, and unleashes a searing burst of flame... there's nothing that indicates whether it's a 2D6 Energy Blast or a 10D6 RKA.  And yet, "visible" is still considered a real limitation.  It lets your enemies know that a power is in use, when they wouldn't know otherwise.
 
Grailknight is correct when he says that Angry Smash Man should know before he swings that a defensive power is in use.  But I think it still misses the point that any enemy who faces him can figure out what the power does fairly quickly, and will adjust their tactics accordingly.
 
Last I checked, a visible power had to be detectable by at least 3 senses (or did they change that to two?).  So Professor Plastic, with his visible Damage Reduction, might always have a somewhat stretchy appearance.  He might squeak when he moves, or make sproingy-sproingy sounds when he walks.  And he probably feels kinda like latex if you touch him.  This would make him more obviously superpowered (and give a hint as to what those powers are) than somebody like Superman.  It might make it harder for him to sneak around as well.
 
 

It's a weird story.  Black guy in car hits two white ladies at Black Lives Matter rally.  My gut instinct on this is that he's not a white supremacist.  
 
People should not intentionally run over other people with their cars.  People should also be aware that protesting in the middle of the highway carries very real danger of accident.  It's also not crazy to think drivers might become seriously afraid when their car gets surrounded by protesters.  Even if a demonstration has been peaceful, the driver who finds himself surrounded doesn't necessarily know that (or know that it will stay peaceful).  
 
I once represented a client who ran over a repo man with his car.  I got the case dismissed when I got the repo man to admit that he intentionally stood in front of my client's car to block him in.  The guy thought he was so smart.  "Yeah I wanted to make sure he couldn't leave."  The judge knew where I was going with it though -- the guy's actions technically fell under the definition of felony Kidnapping (any person who, without lawful authority, causes another person to be confined or imprisoned against their will).  It's a technical argument, but I've had clients charged with kidnapping for less than that.  My client was simply using necessary force to prevent himself from being kidnapped.  The DA gave in and dismissed the charge, and then the judge called repo man back into the courtroom after the hearing was over and chewed his ass out for like 10 minutes.
 

I think the modern day gives you more opportunities for a secret ID than the 60s or 70s did.  Technology has given us lots of options to work from home.  Most people don't get to set their own hours, leave whenever they want, and still make a good living of course.  But most people don't have superpowers either.
 
I just met a guy last week with a perfect secret ID job.  He's a lawyer and a CPA.  He works from home, sets his own hours, and turns his phone off when he doesn't want to be bothered.  As he was (briefly) describing his business to me, he represents corporations and sets up some kind of tax shelter for them.  Their employees are technically his employees, and he handles all the payroll and taxes for the companies.  Somehow they save a lot of money this way.  I didn't understand it (not my area of practice at all), but just talking to him for two minutes you can tell he's an expert in his field.  Anyway he leaves his phone off most of the morning while he goes to the gym, and if somebody needs to reach him before then, that's their problem not his.  Whatever their problem, he won't be able to fix it immediately and a couple extra hours aren't going to make any difference.  It's an absolutely perfect secret ID.
 
Do most people have that job?  Nope.  But it's also not so weird that people would think he's lying about it.  He just comes across as a smart guy who figured out a way to make a lot of money and still be lazy.
 
Secret IDs also don't really have to be 100% legit.  A modern day take on Superman could have him be an internet blogger and have a small YouTube channel.  It doesn't matter if he has enough followers to make real money, because making truckloads of cash when you have Superman powers is easy.  X-Ray vision could make you a kickass poker and blackjack player (you don't have to get rich, just make enough to get by).  Or before the game began, you busted some drug traffickers and just kinda... kept the money.  That's enough to fund your zero points of wealth, middle class existence for a long time.  After that you just appear to be some Millennial hipster blogger who lives beyond his means and has massive credit card debt.  Make an occasional comment about taking online classes and applying for more student loans, and nobody will even blink.  Say things like "when my YouTube channel takes off, everything will be fine", and "my mom is pressuring me to get a real job, she just doesn't believe in my dream."   The secret ID just has to look normal from the outside.

I think the modern day gives you more opportunities for a secret ID than the 60s or 70s did.  Technology has given us lots of options to work from home.  Most people don't get to set their own hours, leave whenever they want, and still make a good living of course.  But most people don't have superpowers either.
 
I just met a guy last week with a perfect secret ID job.  He's a lawyer and a CPA.  He works from home, sets his own hours, and turns his phone off when he doesn't want to be bothered.  As he was (briefly) describing his business to me, he represents corporations and sets up some kind of tax shelter for them.  Their employees are technically his employees, and he handles all the payroll and taxes for the companies.  Somehow they save a lot of money this way.  I didn't understand it (not my area of practice at all), but just talking to him for two minutes you can tell he's an expert in his field.  Anyway he leaves his phone off most of the morning while he goes to the gym, and if somebody needs to reach him before then, that's their problem not his.  Whatever their problem, he won't be able to fix it immediately and a couple extra hours aren't going to make any difference.  It's an absolutely perfect secret ID.
 
Do most people have that job?  Nope.  But it's also not so weird that people would think he's lying about it.  He just comes across as a smart guy who figured out a way to make a lot of money and still be lazy.
 
Secret IDs also don't really have to be 100% legit.  A modern day take on Superman could have him be an internet blogger and have a small YouTube channel.  It doesn't matter if he has enough followers to make real money, because making truckloads of cash when you have Superman powers is easy.  X-Ray vision could make you a kickass poker and blackjack player (you don't have to get rich, just make enough to get by).  Or before the game began, you busted some drug traffickers and just kinda... kept the money.  That's enough to fund your zero points of wealth, middle class existence for a long time.  After that you just appear to be some Millennial hipster blogger who lives beyond his means and has massive credit card debt.  Make an occasional comment about taking online classes and applying for more student loans, and nobody will even blink.  Say things like "when my YouTube channel takes off, everything will be fine", and "my mom is pressuring me to get a real job, she just doesn't believe in my dream."   The secret ID just has to look normal from the outside.

Drug dealer!
 
It's _perfect_!
 
plenty of money, plenty of Disadplications baked in, plenty of leads on things in the street, and set your own hours!
 
 

No one would ever suspect you of running around and helping people, that's for sure.

Congressman.
 
No one actually expects you to be there anyway.....

Happy Birthday, Steve Rogers

I find these are pretty easy to break up.  
 
When the fireworks go on sale, I stock up on roman candles.
 
Not only can they be tied to a single fuse, they can be aimed.
 
 

They've stopped the fireworks... so they can do outdoor karaoke.  Fml

Ladies and gentlemen, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir recorded live at West Point.

I love this show so much.
 
I don't know about anybody else, but I think 1960s television is perhaps the most enjoyable thing you could possibly watch.  Amazing for something that's nearly 60 years old.

So you're saying the wheel in the Big Sky conference keeps on turning?

So you're saying the wheel in the Big Sky conference keeps on turning?

Kansas?

Kansas?

You run into all sorts of problems like that, when you want to tax unrealized income. 
 
We covered a bunch of hypotheticals in my tax law class ages ago.  Back then Barry Bonds was hitting a lot of home runs, and was going to set the record. Let's say some 12 year old kid catches the record breaking home run.  People are willing to pay millions for it.  Does the kid suddenly have to pay taxes on that potential value, forcing him to sell the ball?  If he turns and hands the ball to his friend, does he then have to pay income taxes and also a gift tax, with his friend also having to pay income taxes?  What if he catches the ball and then loses it?  Does he still owe the money?  Generally we say that you wait until you actually sell it.
 
On a nerdier angle, a new thing that was happening back then was this game called Ultima Online.  People were paying real money for fake property.  You could pay actual cash to get pieces of land in the game to build your castle or something.  How do you tax that?  If you have a massive imaginary castle in the game, do you have to pay property taxes on it?  An actual market exists to sell stuff like that.  You could earn real money on it.  You haven't yet, but you could.  Before you laugh, the IRS had actual lawyers investigating this.
 
What about a rare comic book?  Should finding grandpa's old copy of Action Comics #1 subject you to a wealth tax?  Is it worth the 10 cents he paid for it, or the million-plus dollars that you might be able to sell it for, if you found the right buyer?
 
From a business perspective, what if your company is overvalued?  Yeah you got this movie studio, and you're really excited about that upcoming Ben Affleck/Jennifer Lopez romantic comedy.  It's sure to be a big hit, right?  Your stock value is really high, there's no way it could threaten to put your company out of business...
 

Who knows if we'll even have football this year.  Truthfully I can't get excited about the season.  I don't think there's any way they can expect 80,000 people to crowd together in a stadium this year.  With all those empty seats, every game will feel like a PAC-12 game. 

Well, 798,000 people work for Amazon full or part time so I'd say a LOT of money of those employees is going to other businesses.
 
I've had friends work at Amazon and while they had to work VERY hard the money was the best they had seen so far.
 
I had a work project once that saved my company 8 million dollars.  That was 150-200 people who got to keep their jobs for a couple extra years because of a project my team completed under massive time pressure.  I felt like a champion of humanity getting that done.  That was 200 people who got to feed their families and put Christmas under the tree for their kids for a couple more years. 
 
Basically nothing at all compared to Amazon.

Bezos is a lot more valuable to the economy than a guy who flips burgers.  Does he work 50,000 times as hard?  No, but "working hard" isn't a factor.  Is he 50,000 times more valuable than a burger flipper?  Yes, probably more than that.  If you could pick one Jeff Bezos/one Elon Musk/one Bill Gates to add to your economy... versus 50,000 McDonald's employees... who would add more to your economy?
 
Don't forget, Bezos started Amazon in his garage, and used to personally box up people's orders and drive them to the post office in his car.  He grew his garage business into one of the biggest companies on the planet.  Other people chose to invest their money in his company, and he made it grow.
 
Part of the reason we're the world's strongest economy is because we don't demand that the wealthy pay for every social program under the sun.

Man, I don't know.  I work a pretty middle class job and live in a middle class neighborhood and own two-thirds of my house now.  And it puts me about double of what I'd need to be in the top 10% of all people on Earth.  And between my wife, daughter and I I'm sure we've spent a LOT over the years on medical bills (after insurance) so it would be quite easy to have more with a little luck in the health department.
 
Middle class.  House not even paid off (single story, nothing special).
 
If you have a net $4,300 in assets - not cash - assets.  You're richer than half the planet.
 
Even the poor in America have it pretty good compared to the rest of the planet.  We have had it really good for a few decades in America.  REALLY good.

Well that is the point. People make up their own version of elves so it is okay to dislike them. 
Tolkien the creator of orcs were a World war one veteran. He saw the futility of total war and were naturally enough inclined to promote the idea that peace and kindness were the way for humanity to survive. I say this to put this notion in context: You can just as well see the strong as people who force others to adapt to them.
Changing and adapting is not really about strength but about surviving. Which is the orcs weak spot. Orchish lives mean nothing to them. Victory for the dark lord and thereby themselves means all. 
Strength, aggression and violence are not ways for them to adapt their own culture (such as it is..) to better survive but to change other cultures and people into another state. These states being enslaved and dead respectively.  
Off course in epic fantasy based on a humanistic morality the morale of said stories are usually to show the futility of the orc (or equivalent) kill or be killed attitude. And the value of peace and kindness (like hobbits for instance). 
Many games and books show the inhuman conditions of the orcs warfare and the heavy toll it takes on themselves and how it lead to their doom. Very few epic fantasy promote the total war soloution that orcs represent. Usually they glorify the single warrior against many and or honor and chivalry in war. For instance showing mercy to conquered enemies are often shown to pay of at a later date.
 
To take video games as an example the excellent video game "Shadow of Mordor" takes to be mild quite a lot of liberties with the lore of middle earth. However there is one thing that game gets right and that is to show of the hopelessness and futility of the orcish condition. The cost of their way of life. Both physically and psychologically. 
 
But there is another example seen in a recent world of warcraft cinematic. In it we meet an old cool looking orc who have doubts about war, especally the current one againt the heroic alliance which could really be avoided and are not fought in an way that appease the orchish sense of honor. (As in this game the orcs are a noble warrior race). 
He then meet an young and a naive troll who idolizes him, idolize war and are ready to fight for the honour of the horde. The old warrior orc is implied to know better.
Then the troll dies infront of the warrior orc. AND THIS CONVINCE HIM TO FIGHT ON!
And the cinematic shows this as a cool and heroic moment. War is the way. War is cool! Fight on! Dont quit! 
These are two approaches not only to war. But to the total war that orcs usually represent. The authors of the cinematic are trying really hard and doing a really good job at making unjust war seem like an honorable. The opposite of what orcs were intended to do. 
 
I think that some people are just attracted to that idea of total war and they try to it honorable and shown as the "only way". 
Off course they dont really want to do that. So story wise they often meet themselves in the door and have to make their warriors extra kind and sensitive like they have done with the world of warcraft orcs.
From the first warcraft game orcs who looted pillaged and stabbed each other in the back up until to the warcraft movie where the orcs were just looking for a place to belong and raise their cute litte orc babies. Each version of the warcraft orcs are heaped on with more and more humanistic qualities while all the players want its to play tusked hulk and smash puny alliance humans. Its diffent wants and needs dragging the concept of the orc in different directions. 

Highly skilled players are murder machines with cosmic VPPs.  Yes, I've used one.  Yes, I could basically do anything I wanted with it. 
 
One of the nastiest parts is slapping limitations on the powers to bring the real cost down.  Suppose you had a 60 point Cosmic VPP.  You can have a 12D6 Energy Blast, or +30" of Flight, or a 30/30 Force Field.  Or why not all three at once?  Slap x5 Endurance (-2 limitation) on them and for a few phases, you can have all 3 powers going at the same time.  Yeah, you'll run out of End fast.  That's why you thought of that before the fight and Aided your Endurance, right?
 
On the other hand, inexperienced players get totally shut down when you hand them a VPP.  They can't wrap their head around it and they just freeze up.