BasilDrag

Originally posted by Koshka

 

quote:

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Originally posted by BasilDrag

OK, scratch the EveryEgyptian TF.

 

 

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You could probably change it to TF: small boats. I don't know for certain just how common boating skill was, but it never seemed like tomb robbers had much trouble getting themselves across the Nile.

You could probably change it to TF: small boats. I don't know for certain just how common boating skill was, but it never seemed like tomb robbers had much trouble getting themselves across the Nile.

True. OK, restore the TF, just make it TF: Small boats.

--

Is reading in the bathroom considered Multi-Tasking?

Originally posted by Derek Hiemforth

quote:

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Originally posted by BasilDrag

Will it make links from the index page to the individual pages with BACK SLASHES NOT FORWARD SLASHES?!!??

 

It's real irritating to hit a link in a on-disc page and have nothing happens, simply because someone forgot the way paths are written out.

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There must be something misconfigured on your system. It works fine for me.

Hmmm... Odd; it's working now. Must have been my browser being picky or something.

{mode: Emily Latela}

Never mind

{/mode}

--

A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain. -- Mark Twain

Originally posted by Jhamin

Few other things to keep in mind:

{snip}

- Ancient Egyptians did not live in the Desert. They lived in the Nile River valley. They had fields and orchards and hunted in the marshes. The desert was a scary place where foerigners lived.

True, but it's a very level place, with few trees (date palms as I understand it not being prevelent until later), and not conducive to "sneaking after" someone.

- They walked everywhere. Nobody rode. Egypt had horses, but these were used in the military more than for general transport. The camels belonged to traders. If If you were rich you took a raft up or down the river. As everyone lived near the nile that was all you needed.

OK, scratch the EveryEgyptian TF.

--

"The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that still carries any reward." -- John Maynard Keynes

Originally posted by Steve Long

We just got an updated version of the software that I forwarded to Ben, which should be available soon.

Will it make links from the index page to the individual pages with BACK SLASHES NOT FORWARD SLASHES?!!??

It's real irritating to hit a link in a on-disc page and have nothing happens, simply because someone forgot the way paths are written out.

Re: Re: Re: Jedi Powers

Originally posted by tiger

quote:

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Danger Sense ("There's a disturbance in the Force..." "I've got a bad feeling about this...")

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Plot ploy only. Notice it never did them any good

Kept 'em from being (totally) surprised, which is all Danger Sense is supposed to do.

Got a Bad Feeling...

15 Danger Sense (15 pts), Out of Combat (+5), Intuitional (-5)

--

"An unimaginable evil is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is merely good manners."

Re: Ancient Egypt Everyman Skills

Originally posted by Worldmaker

So... what sort of everyman skills would a character from Egypt of 2100 BCE have?

Using FrED p31 as a guide, I'd suggest:

Acting

Concealment

Conversation

Deduction

Native Language (4 points worth, no literacy)

Paramedics (Healing)

Persuasion

One PS at 11-

Stealth

TF: ?camels? (Or something else: I'm not sure what's best here)

AK: Home country or region 8-

I wouldn't give 'em Shadowing, as it's inherently difficult in that setting, so there's little chance the average person will pick up "just a smattering" of it. Ditto for Climbing.

--

"Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow." -- Oscar Wilde

...but you can't tell him much.

A couple of Teleport questions.

1) If I buy Teleport with Megascale, and a Fixed Location, can I 'port to the Fixed Location even if it's less than 1" (howeer far that has been Megascaled to)?

2) I want a character to target a foe, and Teleport him to somewhere far off (up to, say, 10's of kilometers away). Obviously, this will be Teleport, Usable As Attack, and Megascale Range. Now, if the character has to attack HTH, that's all that's needed. However, if the character can Attack someone that's not in touch range, Ranged has to be bought. My question is, how best to do this.

If I pile UAA, MsRange, and Ranged on the Teleport, I have added Ranged to MsRange (which sounds hinky), and I've paid more points for it.

Should I buy UAA as a Naked Advantage, to be used by the Teleport, and take Ranged on the UAA? Or buy the MegaScaled Range as a Naked Advantage, with UAA and Ranged directly on the Teleport?

--

Of course, "Voters do the darnedest things" is always an acceptable answer. Any voter in a reasonably large, reasonably democratic system can relate to that.

Re: character concept question

Originally posted by Kefrem

how would one make a computer generated hologram superhero? i saw the idea in a book somewhere, where a computer became self aware and in order to study humanity..it created a holographic image with a powerful laser holoemmiter it had secretly had launched into orbit...the lady hero had flight and energy projection powers..but...my question is...would be an A.I. with multiform? or something completely different?

First, go check out Star Hero, p.160-162 for Computers as Characters.

It sounds to me like Images and Clairsentience, both with MegaScaled range.

You refer to "the lady hero"---would that be the hologram image? If so, and it has "energy projection powers", you'd need EB or similar with MegaScaled range and perhaps Indirect.

--

I have firm grip on reality; it's just a different reality.

Originally posted by Arkham

And a bookshelf! It is, after all,

just a computer without programs, and with the 'extra

time' limitation...

"A bookshelf is a computer....."

::Sigh:: Somehow, this makes me feel old.

this is too silly.

That I'll agree with.

--

Love is much nicer to be in than an automobile accident, a tight

girdle, a higher tax bracket or a holding pattern over Philadelphia.

-- Judith Viorst

Re: ...but it says 0-60 in 4.7 seconds.

Originally posted by CourtFool

Let llama see if he has this correct.

 

Each segments equals one second. One turn equals twelve seconds.

 

A vehicle may accelerate or decelerate up to its full Combat Movement velocity each Phase.

So far, so good.

So, the Lotus Esprit Turbo listed on pg 45 would accelerate up to 90mph (30" @ SPD 4) in 3 seconds (Phase 3)?

Nope.

Velocity in hexdis/Turn, divided by exactly 2.68224, equals velocity in mi/hr. Thus, to increase to 30 hexdis/Phase in one Phase is to increase to 120 hexdis/Turn, is to increase to 44.73872584 mi/hr.

Less than half of your figure.

--

The heart of the giver makes the gift dear & precious. -- Luther

Originally posted by archer

Call it an active Detect IR Beam, Only For Detecting Possible Combat Hits. The definition of an active sense is that it emits some kind of beam detectible by others with the same sense. SFX it away that it takes an OCV vs. DCV roll rather than a PER roll to "paint" your target. So you roll your to hit roll and... BEEP!

Even simpler: call the vest (or whathaveyou) Detect: Sense: "hits" from tag-gun. Don't define the gun at all; it's effectively a Special Effect of the vest's sensors. You can either have the vest cover specific Hit Locations, or use Activation at the same Limitation & Value as in the "Armor Coverage Table" on p.334 of FrED.

--

Nobility depends not on parentage or place of birth, but on breadth of

compassion and depth of loving-kindness. If we would be noble, let us

be great-hearted.

Can you take Indirect multiple times, solely to negate Hardened?

Both Armor Piercing and Penetrating specifically say you can, but Indirect doesn't specifically say you can't (nor does FrED nor the FAQs prohibit it anywhere I can find).

--

Make the most of yourself...for that is all there is of you.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

What's food?

Originally posted by Michael Hopcroft

(snip)

It's not just deciding which books to buy -- it's deciding between buying books and buying food.

 

Usually the books win....

When I have a little money, I buy books. If any is left over, I buy food and clothing. -- Erasmus

--

I learned that it is the weak who are cruel, and that gentleness is to be expected only from the strong. -- Leo Rosten

Originally posted by AlHazred

Oh, Lord, where to begin.

 

The Flux and Anchor series (more correctly the Soul Rider series) by Jack Chalker comprises five books: Spirits of Flux and Anchor (1984), Empires of Flux and Anchor (1984), Masters of Flux and Anchor (1985), The Birth of Flux and Anchor (1985), and Children of Flux and Anchor (1986).

Yeah, him.

Mr. Chalker has been quoted as saying, "SOUL RIDER is probably the best saga, and the most complicated thing I ever did, but it was very controversial and you either got it or you didn't." That's putting it mildly.

They aren't a patch on the Well of Souls series.

Many people put him in the same category as John Norman and Piers Anthony as a writer of fiction aimed at pubescent young men; he's somewhat stronger than Anthony, but not as out there as Norman.

 

Definitely not the sort of thing I recommend to female acquaintances who ask for Sci-Fi recommendations, although the men don't really come out much better in most of his books.

 

Where Chalker differs from the other two is that he has some really good, eminently game-usable ideas in most of his series.

Yeah, there's a stong streak of misogynism in some of his work. Unfortunate, really, as he does have some marvelous underlying ideas.

--

I don't need speed reading, I need speed-bookcase-building.

In between size?

Originally posted by Steve Long

Oh, I'm sure I'll get my money's worth. It'll come in darn handy for Interstellar Hero in many respects; too bad it doesn't cover the entire scope of space that book will (but in that case, the AH would probably fill five bookshelves -- 5000 LY is a lotta room).

And elsewhere...

Originally posted by Steve Long

That's exactly what Solar Hero is, pretty much. A lot of the colonization will already have gotten started, but there'll be plenty of real estate left to poke around in.

So, Intersteller Hero is going to be space out to circa 5000 light-years, and Solar Hero will be the Solar System? Any plans for a book at an in-between scope?

Actually, that sounds like over-kill, perhaps. So, I suggest lots of hints in Intersteller Hero on handling a smaller, more local section of space. Anyone positing a future without FTL would find that very, very useful.

--

I'm glad the sky is painted blue;

And the earth is painted green;

And such a lot of nice fresh air

All Sandwiched in between! -- Anon

Gestures?

Originally posted by pointyman2000

(snip)

m3- 2 - Energy Sword = 5d6 HKA (vs. ED); OIF; no STR damage; gestures with both hands

(snip)

Thanks for all the help, by the way, I'm still getting the hang of the system.

Swinging a sword is not a legitimate use of the Gestures Limitation.

Or did you have something else in mind?

--

Friends, books, a cheerful heart, and conscience clear are the most choice companions we have here. -- William Mather

Originally posted by Zaratustra

It would be nice if the 2, 3, 4 and 5 had a differently-colored dot, and the 6 had two of those, painted in such a way that would make it easy to read both STUN and BODY.

An addition to that: d3's (aka 1/2d6's)---two faces with one dot, two with two dots, two with three dots. One of the ones, one of the twos, and one of the threes have a single differerntly-colored dot each. Thus you could read STUN and BODY off directly.

--

In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. -- Yogi Berra

Re: New Power Framework Idea:

OK, I read and re-read this, and I still have some questions about what you're trying to do.

Originally posted by Mutant for Hire

Given the thread over Elemental Controls, which remain in some ways even more controvertial than VPPs, I decided to try to come up with a less controvertial alternative to them. I ignore the concept of thematic unity, since no one can agree on that anyway and just went for rule mechanics instead:

 

Power Group (warning sign)

A Power Group (PG) is a group of powers, considered to be linked together in some fashion or sharing some common element. In return for a discount on all powers in the PG, all powers in the PG are affected when a single power is affected by an Adjustment Power.

 

A Power Group has a Power Group Base . The base is a pool of points that may be used to discount powers.

"Discount" them how? That's not covered fully, though I suspect you mean in a manner similar to EC's, where you subtract the number of points in the pool from the Active Cost of the Power (though never more than half the number of Active Points in the Power)

The base must be 1/5 the size of the largest size power.

Do you mean no more than 1/5? Or is it required to be 1/5, no more and no less?

Only 1/5 of the points of any power in the PG may be paid for by the base.

Do you mean Active Cost? "points" might refer to Real Cost or Base Cost.

If 1/'5 of a power falls short of the base, the rest of the base's points are wasted.

This I can't make hide nor hair of. Could you rephrase that, please?

A PG may never exceed 1/5 of the AP cap in the game, period.

 

Almost any power or characteristic may be put into a Power Group. Primary Characterstics so discounted may not be used to add to the bonus of Figured Characterstics.

I think you mean "...do not add to Figured Characateristics." Or are you referring to (gosh-knows-what) as a Figured Characteristic's "bonus"?

Explanations will be appreciated.

--

Why does the sun come out during the day, when it would be so much more useful if it came out at night when it's dark?

There's also...

Originally posted by AlHazred

Sir, I believe it was your post I was remembering.

 

My brain coughed it up when I was talking with a friend of mine who runs GURPS. We were lamenting the fact that players tend to get stuck in a rut, and were brainstorming ideas. We basically pooled all the most over-the-top, unusual, interesting campaign ideas we could come up with, with the goal of stringing complementary ones together to form something very different and unique. This is the idea that got us going.

 

Many thanks for the inspiration!

 

Roland

The "nanotechnology as magic" bit and the "almost forgotten" bit and the "only some can control it" bit sound sorta-kinda like the Flux and Anchor series by, um, by, errr..

By Wossname.

Re: Distance Measurements for Teleportation

Originally posted by Agent 537

Here's one for you science guys. My apologies if this has been discussed before.

 

Concept is a teleporting character. This PC can teleport anywhere, to any point on the earth. For the purposes of this question, how he knows where to teleport to is unimportant. The question? How much Teleportation will he need to buy, so as to ensure that he is able to get to any point on the globe from any other point?

Others have covered the use of MegaScale. If the character wants to really reach anywhere, s/he will need a standard Teleport with lots of non-combat multples to reach places less than[/] one kilometer.

Originally posted by Agent 537

Same question, new wrinkle. From any point on the earth, how much Teleportation would he need to buy to reach any point on the moon, no matter the cycle of the month or time of year (if those make a difference), and vice versa? [/b]

Neither time of year nor phase of Luna matter. However, there's a difference (max of ~12,750km) in distance depending on if Luna is above or below the horizon.

Re: Random Generator Question

Originally posted by Syberdwarf2

I've heard from a little birdie that Champions 5th has a random character generator. Is this true? If so, have any herophiles out there used it and did it work well for you?

It's in Champions. It's basically a collection of "chunks" with randomizing rules for sticking them together.

I haven't used it. It looks like it'd make decent "throw aways" for the GM.

Originally posted by archer

Extradimensional Movement: to the "go time" dimension (where this dimension is stopped). If you don't like that dimension, make it to the "ultrafast" dimension, where the time flow ratio from there to here is a billion to one.

I prefer this to the back-to-the-start-of-the-phase time loop XDM. Time loops are very tricksy things.

One addition I would make: every instant of time in the "real" world creates & is linked to a different "go time" plane. Thus, the character needs to buy an Adder to go to "a related group of dimensions". I'd make this a +5 Adder, as it would *not* allow travel to any location in said group. (see FrED p.111 for the +5 and +10 Adders as given)

Originally posted by archer One of the properties of that dimension is that it reflects everything that is in the real world. You can then buy your STR Transdimensional to affect things in the real world.

I would say the character would need one or more Sense with the Transdimensional Advantage, and say the "go time" dimension shows nothing of the "real" world---or at least, very, very little of it.

--

OK, who's this strange Ian the Cthulhu fans are always talking about?

Re: Wow

Originally posted by Arkham

Wow, all these strangely convoluted power constructions,

and no one has commented upon my Continuous EDT-Time version.

 

So, here's another shot.

 

Time stop:

Extradimensional travel 20 Any other time +20

Time travel only -1/2 Only to the beginning of user's

phase -1 Continuous +1 1 Charge -2 OAF Fragile

( pocketwatch ) -1 ( 80 active, 15 real )

PLUS Desolid linked -1/2 1 Continuing charge -1?

( 40 active, 16 real )

Total cost 31 real points.

First: will your GM let your character alter the past?? If not, you've got problems. There are other problems if altering the past results in the creation of an alternate time line.

Why is the Desolid given a Continuing Charge? Since it's Linked, it will only work while the XDM is, which gives the same effect.

BTW, I'd give the XDM a limited 'time' that it works: Continuing Charge of, say, 5 minutes would do nicely, or perhaps only 1 minute.

Maybe add 10 Str, linked, Affects real world if you

want to actually change things around while the rest of

the world is stuck in your one little second.

Easier would be a naked Advantage: Affects Real World +2 on whatever the character's STR is. Or, for only 5 or 10 of the character's STR.

BTW, I don't think such a character would "repeat" only one second; depending on how the GM defines a character's Phase, it may repeat the entire ____ second long time from the start of Phase X to the start of Phase X+1.

Unless you're planning to give this character SPD 12?

How you would set it up as a 'defensive' action that you

can abort to, I don't know. I'm still fairly new to Hero.

Maybe add 'triggered' to go off when you push the button

on the watch.

Yes, Trigger is what you'd want for that.

Re: Post-Apoc Creatures

Originally posted by Super Squirrel

The encounter brought me to realize just how to build superb post-apoc creatures. Take your average animal and enhance a couple aspects of it. Then give it an unusual, but lethal power.

 

{snip}

 

As always, I'm looking for good ideas to make lethal creatures for this futuristic world. Write-Ups or basic info are greatly accepted and appreciated.

Metamorphosis Alpha would give you a ship-load ()of ideas.

Or Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega, its descendant. I think Gamma World is a spin-off from Metamorphosis Alpha

--

OK, so who's this strange Ian the Cthulhu fans are always talking about?

Re: Question about Resources

Originally posted by Just Joe

I am planning on running a pulpish game set in Europe in the 1930's. I want to learn about the technology of the era. My main concern is not the cutting edge stuff, but more everyday technology. Is there a commercial airline that can take one from London to Prague? How many people have cars? Are public or commercial buslines common? How big are flashlights and how long do their batteries last? (Stuff like that that few people other than gamers could possibly care about)

 

So the question is, can any of you recommend a source of any kind that might help me answer such questions? Something written with gamers in mind would probably be ideal, but I'll take what I can get.

The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life from Prohibition through World War II by Marc McCutcheon should give you a good overview of the era. You might find it doesn't have the level of detail you want, but you can use the bibliography in the back. Especially useful is the list of magazines and newspapers; if you have access to a library with a good microfilm/microfiche collection, you've got a terrific resource.