Balabanto

Re: Creepiest/Sickest superhero concept ever?

Wait for Foxbat for President. I am CERTAIN that the Undead Skull will make your list.

I won't tell you the gimmick, but everyone who knows the gimmick says he's the most gruesome villain ever.

Quote of the Week: REAL LIFE!

So I'm at work this week, and one of my co-workers is talking with another, staring at a packaged dress shirt.

Co-worker: I don't know if I could wear a shirt like that, man, with the two button pockets on the ends like that.

Me: Dude...those are the shirt cuffs.

Re: Grond vs. A Cow

ZOUNDS! That sounds like a munchkin way to increase the creature's Per roll to me.

Re: What is the best way to build this?

You're not building the power in the pool correctly, Hugh, that's where this falls down. Refer to the rules on partially limited powers, and buy the power with Autofire, Trigger, and Limited Group SFX, Bullets.

When you fire one bullet, you do more damage, yes, but nothing's perfect.

You only change the pool once, to create a power that SIMULATES Rapid Fire with Autofire and limited number of shots.

Re: What is the best way to build this?

But you don't need them, Hyper-man, because any fanning of the trigger or multiple shots can be taken care of with advantages in the pool like autofire and variable special effect. Once you have the power pool, all of the restrictions of the advantages vis a vis the active point cost vanish, you just have to make a fast draw roll to change the pool.

Re: Campaign Tone -- explaining “Bronze Age”

Amazingly, my game world has no ape city. Nor do I intend to add one.

Much as I would LOVE to write one in, I would have to explain why no one has discovered it until now.

Re: Grond vs. A Cow

Dammit, I repped you too recently. That is HILARIOUS!

Special bonus points for "Buck Manslab."

Re: Cap is dead!!!!

The other thing about Captain America is that before he was Steve Rogers, buttkicker of evil, he was Steve Rogers, frail starving artist.

He was trained to be a symbol for troops everywhere and to fight for everything that he loved. That doesn't mean he enjoyed killing people.

Re: What is the best way to build this?

You know, he could simply buy Rapid Attack: Ranged and pump out charges, because it is better than blazing away, and buy a trigger to switch the multipower outright. You just need stupid amounts of Charges and the Fast Draw skill. (You guys do remember what the skill does, yes?) Then you don't need to worry about most of this stuff, because the Rapid Attack Ranged takes care of the penalties and he's not Blazing Away.

Alternatively, just buy yourself a VPP of Gun and Bullets, OAF. It doesn't even have to be very large, the CONTROL COST has the charges, and any advantages that you want to place on it, because the cost of the reserve doesn't change.

Observe.

Variable Power Pool, of Gun and specialized ammunition

50 Active points

33 Control Cost, 0 Phase To Change (+1), 250 Charges (+1). OAF (-1), Requires a Fast Draw Roll to be 0 Phase to Change (-1/4)

Yes. It hurts. But yes, it works.

Re: Blowing up your own power armor

As far as I'm concerned, here's what's required for that.

Make a power skill roll or a gadgeteering roll.

Did you make it?

Good.

Your armor explodes. Calculate the damage according to the number of dice in Active REAL points total in the armor/15. A massive killing attack goes off. You are at it's center with no defenses.

Everything else takes the colossal KA. Make it an explosion or an area effect as the GM sees fit.

If you are still alive, it is my suggestion that you hang up your hero boots, because if you're not dead, you certainly won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

If you're dead, I hope it was worth it.

Re: Cap is dead!!!!

I'd like to point out that Batman HAS used a gun a couple of times since then, but the opponents were either A) Nonliving (The Mad Monk is a Vampire, he lacks the requisite survival failure) or To disarm someone from a stupidly great distance. The purpose of the action was NOT just to save the innocent life and take the target out without killing them, but also to intimidate, embarrass, and terrify Slade Wilson, whose words "No one can make that shot" actually made it worth it.

I thought the second one was a fantastic homage to Doc Savage, who could easily be the greatest marksman in the world but does not use a gun at all because it dulls the wits and slows the mind.

So be careful. Not everything in comics is absolutes. Most things though, can be clearly defined in terms of good and evil.

Re: What would your Master Villain do?

Warstar: "Together they are a potent combination, however, the first thing I would do is hire a group of individuals who have their own powers, or similar powers, to test them. The people we select should not have to win, and I will conveniently bail them out by temporarily making them citizens of my country."

"They will then know who their enemy is, but I am counting on that part. People are naturally afraid of me when I become their enemy. I have come up smelling like roses from every villainous encounter in which I have ever been involved, and my people love me in a way that the American Presidents could only dream of."

Once I've taken their measure through proxies, I'll proceed to use America's own LANsat network, for which a membership under an assumed name costs 4.99 per year, to monitor their actions via dataworms and discover the nature of how their powers work. (Superhuman Biology 25-) This should only take a week or two.

Then I will inform them that I have slighted them, and sent those blowhards after them, and challenge them to combat in a safe out of the way location, with no innocents around. I have no interest in being a threat to people so common that I can crush them like bugs.

The location I will choose is the original Los Alamos testing area, which, thanks to the incompetence of the US Government, still has a radiation level so high that it foils all means of technological sensing. I will threaten to launch a nuclear weapon, so that they will be sure to come. I will also tell them to not tell anyone about the bomb, or I will launch it early, and innocents will suffer. They don't need to know I don't intend to harm innocent people.

The accursed Susano will be unable to detect me, as will the rest of those pathetic fools. Once I have the data on them, I assure you that they will be horribly defeated.

My weapons shall be their own team members. Susano, Freyja, Monkey King, and Shango all have considerable super strength. While I am probably as strong, if not stronger than they are, there is no reason to worry about that. From beneath the sand, I shall amplify the radiation already in the area using an atomic amplifier, and prevent them from escaping. I will key my armor to my own teleportation recall system, thus enabling me to escape through the teleportation frequency hole. I'll need to.

Shango is lord of the Forge, but he is not lord of electricity, and the first thing I will do is technologically override his armor and bend it to my will. With my data, I will use his armor to strike Lugus, transforming the electromagnetic man into an electromagnetic wave. This will react with the radiation appropriately. He will be helpless while he is transforming into what I need. Pure electromagnetism instead of light. Simultaneous with this, I shall engage Isis in hand to hand combat, and disable two members of their team at once. Shango is now on my side, Isis will be unconscious, and Lugus is helpless. Shango will engage Freyja directly, since he is already controlled, she will not be able to stop him from attacking through a different means. That leaves me to fend off Susano and the Monkey King. I do not fear only two of them, I am skilled enough to survive Monkey King, and Agile enough to avoid Susano's attacks. Now all I have to do is put one of them down. Then I will evacuate using my frequency eject.

That should be just enough time for Lugus to transform into a nuclear explosion.

The New Pantheon will be destroyed. The United States will have conducted an unauthorized nuclear test at a currently inactive testing ground.

And I, Warstar, will reap the benefits of it.

Re: Cap is dead!!!!

The truly interesting thing is that they called it Civil War.

And now no one can be civil about it. At all.

Re: Cap is dead!!!!

Actually, my ire is directed at this entire situation.

Re: Cap is dead!!!!

Not to mention this:

What does this look like in your champions game, Liaden?

PC: Mr. GM, I'm tired of aliens coming to clean our clocks, and Monkeys from the Quasi Dimension of Banana Land scheming to take over our world. There's got to be a better way to do this. Can I do some reality models and project outward over the next years to see what the best solution to the problem is?

GM: ???????. Sure, Geniusman. No problem. Who's going to be running these simulations?

PC: Oh, I'll just build a computer to do nothing but the reality models. And I'll get the help of Incredible Computer Link Man to help me do it.

GM: Fine, that will take you amount of time X.

PC: Great!

Two Weeks Later:

GM: All right, here you go. Roll 3d6 to determine result.

PC: Here we go. OW...That's an 18, isn't it?

GM: Yeah, it is. So here are the results of your projections.

All right. According to your calculations, monkeys from Banana Land will rule the world in 7.82 years, if the aliens from the planet Blark don't orbitally bombard the world in 3.87 years, or Demonicus the Supernaturally Infused Man doesn't suck the souls out of everyone in 4.87 years.

PC: Is there ANY scenario where these things don't happen?

GM: Sure! If all heroes register with the government, these things won't happen. And by the way, Evil Robot in your head is growing ascendant again. Care to devote some time to putting up a shield so he can't rewrite your brain again?

PC: Nah. Obviously I'm not on the ball today. I already rolled one 18.

It not only SOUNDS railroady and stupid, it IS railroady and stupid.

What a REAL superhero would do is try to find out what the Blarkians want, and put a stop to it, Seal the gate to Banana Land, and put Demonicus in the Mystic Prison of the Gods where he belongs, behind crystal bars!

Assuming the reality modelling actually works, you solve on a case by case basis for these crises. Intelligent people develop intelligent plans.

Re: Cap is dead!!!!

The problem with the reality modelling is this.

They didn't tell us there was any reality modelling going on in the series. They didn't tell us this two years ago. Stark and Reed should have been in the foreground if they were doing these sorts of projections a year and a half ago or more.

AND they tell us that they wait to have a discussion with the other superintelligent villainous guy, the Mad Thinker, until so late in the game that at this point, the equations and simulations are meaningless. "This is the least bad scenario for the world?"

WELL, WHAT THE HELL WERE THE OTHERS?

One of the fundamental rules of superhero comics is "No man has the right to be judge, jury and executioner."

Another of the fundamental rules of comics is "No matter how great the odds, a hero will still succeed somehow."

And now you're telling me that two of the greatest heroes of the world are going to rely on some mathematical reality modelling constructs and give in to the naysayers?

THIS is why it's stupid, Liaden. It fundamentally undermines every single heroic principle that exists in comic books.

So of course I don't buy it.

Re: Cap is dead!!!!

The thing is, I don't buy reality modelling, Liaden.

If you're Reed Richards and Tony Stark, you can build a reality model that does whatever you want, and then MAKE IT WORK.

Re: Cap is dead!!!!

Be that as it may, the problem is that the Pro-Reg side relies on marketing research to make it's point.

And quite frankly, having seen the results of marketing research, you guys should all be concerned.

Marketing Research is exactly that. People base entire strategies of economics on it.

So when Tony Stark and Reed Richards say "According to these equations, blah blah blah blah blah..."

I don't believe this nonsense for a minute.

Marketing Research doesn't work. And I can prove it. Macy's seems to think it works.

According to them, Macy's is better off with every associate dressed in black.

However, all the associates hate it.

And the customers hate it too. In New York, that strategy might hold water, but people walk into our store and tell us that it looks like a mortuary.

So did the marketing research work?

The problem is that instead of making Tony and Reed actual geniuses, they made them corporate stooges that feel powerless and need to feel like geniuses while simultaneously enacting policies that benefit them and screw over the lower downs.

But this isn't what Reed and Tony are supposed to be like. They're supposed to be HEROES too.

And they didn't act heroically at all.

Re: Grond vs. A Cow

Heh. Actually, in my game I have Farmer Brown and Bossy, the mind controlling cow.

THERE'S an opponent Grond can never defeat.

Re: Cap is dead!!!!

That's not the problem I see.

This is. I posted this on the Marvel Boards as soon as I found this out. Now someone who is likely going to die before they fix it is going to go to their grave knowing that their hero who gave them strength in their time of need is gone.

Mortimas wrote: I have a terminal illiness I've been fighting for 7 years, and you killed my hero, a symbol that gave me strength through 911, gave me strength through my sickness, a paper hero that was so much to me my whole life.

I am done with you I will never make mine marvel again.

This, more than anything else, Joe Quesada, is why.

Congratulations, you murdering swine. You just proved that you're no better than the people Cap fights.

You can't even respect people who are DYING. That's disgusting and low beyond all rational belief. All it takes is ONE man to suffer like this. Just ONE.

Captain America understood that. Because he stands for ALL the people, no matter how small, or crippled, or dying.

Heroes inspire. But apparently, Joe, you never had a day of inspiration in your life.

If he dies sooner than expected, Mr. Quesada, you're responsible. And I will hold you responsible for the rest of my days.

There's a lot that can make me ranty.

But I am NOW TRULY ANGRY.

Re: Cap is dead!!!!

I wish I could rep him too, but I can't. I already repped him for something else.

Nonetheless, the idea that Captain America can be subjected to the problem of text vs. context, and is now the victim of naked self interest and callous cash payment bothers me on so many levels.

If Brubaker comes through and shows us just how much the world NEEDS Captain America, I'll be pleased.

And to Blue Jogger? A Mulatto, Bisexual Female, Computer Literate Captain America for the new century?

It may be a new superhero. It might even be interesting for four issues.

But let's get one thing straight right here, true believers.

The reason the classics succeed is because they're classics. The reason you can't replace Captain America is the same thing you always know, that you pretty much said without saying it.

That NO ONE can replace Captain America. Steve Rogers IS Captain America.

He already stands for ALL of America's people. The fact that he's a blonde haired, blue eyed golden boy is irrelevant.

I almost lost my job the other day. I got out of the situation by inhaling deeply and saying "What would Captain America do?"

Maybe I should do that more often.

Re: adventure ideas?

1) If the armor all comes from the same source, the armor is addictive/injects drugs into their bloodstream/somehow creates a need for it's presence.

2) A metal consuming virus ravages the city, or a plastic consuming virus if all the suits of armor are plastic. (This can be particularly funny if it's contacted transmitted, watch thousands of boob jobs die)

3) A villain LIVES IN THEIR ARMOR! There are two possibilities here. The villain lives in a dimension of engineering and construction that is only accessible when the armored suits are close together. The second is that some sort of disembodied machine entity lives in the collective suits of armor, and thus tries to force the PC's away from their loved ones, friends, etc... Try to avoid Tony Stark=Ultron. If you think I hated that as a READER, think about how much your players will.

4) Robots. Robots are wonderful foes for armored people.

5) Never forget the iconoclasts. Some people just HATE armor. And will do anything to get rid of this. Remember, a hero with super strength is no different from a guy with a prostate condition. (Which is why Civil War style mandatory registration is stupid. The nature of your body should not be a required reporting unless it NATURALLY presents a hazard, in which case the government agency in charge of you is the CDC) But powered armor is MILITARY HARDWARE. Anyone, most of the time, unless it's stupidly complex and difficult to operate, can use powered armor, and the more advanced the technology, the easier it is. They may not be as good as Iron/Tin/Steel/Gold/What's His Metal Man when they do, but the possibility of mass production exists. A GOOD argument can be made that men shouldn't be allowed to run around in armored suits without registering with the government, and their serial numbers locked down. All it takes is one politically powerful guy with a chip on his shoulder and the PC's will have an enemy that they will have to defeat with diplomacy. Plus, if he really wants his agenda to be pushed forward, he can hire people to steal their foci, and use them against the PC's.

6) Well, remember just above where I said "Some people HATE armor?" Well, some people LOVE it too. For every guy who wants to shut their armor down, there's a guy who either wants to take their armor and find out how it works, or take it and build his OWN suits of armor and mass produce them, selling them to third world countries. One of the best Iron Man villains ever was Justin Hammer. He wasn't a powered armor guy. He wasn't a supervillain. He was a greedy man with a lot of money and a business suit. The showdown with Hammer and his hired goons on his floating island? Still one of the greatest battles in Iron Man history.

7) The industrial spy. A great villain for a group of heroes who are mostly armored is to wait until they are out of armor, and have them fight a martial artist. Remember, Spymaster is still an Iron Man villain. Ghost is still an Iron Man villain. Without the armor, guys like these who are trained combatants and have a ton of gear themselves can be DEADLY. Plus, training and gear are cheap. Armored suits are expensive. Who's to say there's only ONE?

Re: WWYCS: "Why Shouldn't I Kill Him?"

Most of my characters would say this. "It doesn't matter what you believe. No man has the right to judge another's actions and be above the law. The moment that's allowed, jurisprudence collapses. So if you kill him, I'm bringing you in. If I have a chance to stop you, I must."

One of my characters would actually say "That's nice. Your god complex ends right now. Would you like fries with that before I kick you all over creation?"

Re: Cap is dead!!!!

Thank you, Steamteck.

The world needs real heroes now more than ever. Unfortunately, what we have now is crap.

I am totally stunned that the course of Civil War went as it did, that people could allow characters to be so badly mishandled.

For god's sake, Reed Richards, all by himself, could rewrite reality in his bedroom to make sure this crap never happened.

I pray to this day that I will wake up and that the past two years of comics didn't happen.

Re: Cap is dead!!!!

The problem here, again, is not Brubaker. I would bet MONEY that Brubaker didn't come up with this. This is like Strazynski and the Norman Osborn/Gwen sex stuff, where they TOLD him to write it.

Strazynski was like WTF? You want to do WHAT to Spider Man? He almost quit.

I'll bet that Brubaker went home and said "I can either do this cheesy, or I can pray that the fans trust me enough to do this the right way."

Keep in mind, if this is the case, we shouldn't be kicking his ass. I think we should diss Quesada and Millar for being morons, and give Brubaker the support he needs to bring HIS hero back.

You know Cap is his favorite, right?