Balabanto

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... It was a sticky change environment with a -5 penalty to speech related skills and activities. (Which just goes to show you that sometimes having a skill roll is better than having none.)

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... During the final battle with Lorenzo Vitale-Seveigny. (YES, I have a villain named Lorenzo. It's okay. These things happen.) Elvis Presley is suddenly and mystically returned to life.... Eiko Takashima: I knew I should have blown up Elvis's corpse. Then this wouldn't have happened! Elvis, upon seeing that most of the group consists of beautiful women: "Whooahh, Momma, come to the King!" During the battle, Eiko Takashima releases an inhalant novacaine bomb to make magical spells more difficult to cast. Unfortunately, this means that no one without Life Support: Immune to Chemicals can talk clearly anymore. Gideon: Betther Lukth Nexthtt Time, Theveainey... Romula: Couldth we watith for thith to wear off tho that everyone but Captain Unity doethnth thound like a rethard?

Re: 7 heroes summoned through time: who are they? Her name is Yim Wing Chun, and it's a subschool of Kung Fu. The reality is that she modified the skills of one of the Venerable Five to be more flexible and speed related. There's a very cool, yet somewhat inaccurate movie starring Michelle Yeoh (My heroine of chinese martial arts films forever) as Yim Wing Chun, which has an awesome fight with a cotton belly master at the end. I know at some point in the past I sent Mike Surbrook this movie on VHS, so I know he's seen it too.

Re: 7 heroes summoned through time: who are they? Liaden,the point was that you shouldn't have both Clovis and Joan of Arc, they're too similar in motivation. I hope that didn't suck for you.

Re: 7 heroes summoned through time: who are they? Before Christ: There is no greater than Alexander. The Dark Ages: Clovis of the Franks, founder of France. If you want a woman from the Middle Ages, replace Clovis with Pepin the Short, his successor, a 4'6" man who fought with a 7' Greatsword. No lie. The Middle Ages: Henry V, who really got the short end of the stick, the greatest warrior and diplomat of his age. If you want a woman, replace him with Joan of Arc The Rennaissance: It can only be Leonardo Da Vinci. No one else will do. The Age of Enlightenment-Industrial Revolution: This is a tough choice, but I would probably have to say General Wellington is your man. Victorian to End of WWII: There is only one man who can do it all. That man is Theodore Roosevelt. Without TR, your team has no spirit, and no leader. If you prefer a martial artist, replace him with the legendary founder of Jin Wu Mun Martial Arts, in the movie Fearless. Modern Era: If you don't have a martial artist yet, Bruce Lee is the king. If you do, there is only one alternative choice, and that woman is Amelia Earhart.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... While confronting the purveyors of illegal seafoods, Silver Sentinel, the team gadgeteer who pretends to be an alien sorcerer, demands the surrender of the enemies. "Place your weapons down and your pants on your heads!!!!" Seizure: That's HANDS! OOC: The Night's player: You know guys, pants is funnier, but also works.

Re: Santa Claus is coming (and man, is he ever pissed!) Ho, ho ho. And yes, I did run "The Fright Before Christmas" many years ago. The heroes plan was to have the 500+ year old dragon sorceress who looked like a 16 year old do bad stuff until Dark Santa showed up. It was funny, but it worked.

Re: The Munchkin Build Contest I encourage you to wait for next year at Origins, when I will actually TRY to win the competition instead of toying with people. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Re: HWYW*: Marvel Civil War? The problem is that the entire situation in and of itself is unheroic. There's nothing heroic about heroes fighting each other on this scale. And THAT is the problem with this story. Good SHOULD triumph over evil. Comic books have lost sight of this.

Re: How do you know if a character name is already being used? It's easy. If you duplicate a name, make sure the character doesn't have the same powers, background or origin. If you create a villain whose name is Steelburger, and he has the same powers, background, and origin as Bronzeburger, published by Captain Comico, chances are, you're screwed. If you create a villain whose name is Steelburger, and the origin, powers, background, and art are completely different, there's nothing they can do. I CAN create a character named Spider-Man, but he can't be bitten by a radioactive spider, he can't have an aunt may, etc. Marvel can sue me, but, they WILL lose if they say it's the same character. Marvel can still sue me for interfering with fair competition laws. I CAN create a character that is sufficiently similar to Spider Man and is inept, but THAT character is protected under parody laws. I cannot create a character that uses any existing similarities without infringing on copyright. This is why I have a character named Abraxas, but since he's not an actual whale, but is only a Humanoid Whale, has different powers, AND is evil instead of good, I do not get sued by Marvel vis a vis Epic Illustrated. Is it a polite tribute? Absolutely. Can I be sued because the character itself is completely different? No. I could have named him anything, but as long as the character is historically different, doesn't do the same things, and doesn't create a significant problem for them legally because it's not recognizable, you can name a character "Iron Man." Just make sure he has an ironing board and a steam press.

Re: WWYCD: The Destruction Of The Conqueror Heh. He was defeated by Doctor Solipso, The Unitary Man. He's a fairly impressive character, except that most of his points are a huge duplication suppress equal to 3X Tyrannon's points in Duplication.

Re: WWYD - Marvel's Civil War Thought I know this is a bit late in coming, my problem with Civil War is not worth leaving the gaming table over it. My problem is that it's suddenly like "Holy !@$$!. There are no powerful mentalists in the Marvel Universe." Here's what this looks like in the CU. Some Government mentalist mind scans for all these people, and then the game ends. THAT's why it's stupid. The impetus for it is possible. In my gameworld, there is no registration act, because typically the people who push for these things have dangerous giant robots at their disposal and short tempers, and the robots deal out a whole lot more damage than the average super when they miss.

Re: Artwork for Gestalt I'd buy a copy of the printed version too. The only problem with printed versions is that they're less cost effective and more labor intensive than PDFs, from a publishing perspective. Still, I'd always rather have one.

Re: World without Menton The heroes are sued by Menton's lover, whoever that might happen to be in your game, in civil court for loss of consortium and all other activities related to marriage and sexual congress, estimating damages from Menton's empire to be some astronomical number. Can the heroes survive the lawyers, thieves, criminals, and all the other chaos this lawsuit creates? What willl happen to Menton's massive fortune, and who will wind up with it? If your PC's currently are the ones who killed Menton, they just got served. If they aren't, then give your new PC's the job of serving them with the papers!

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Discussion of the Metallic Shell of Plastron, one of the members of the team. Seizure: There's a human mind in there, isn't there? You're basically a cyborg. Prestige: Maybe it's just his spare brain. Later, as Seizure makes an appearance in her new costume in front of dozens of eaters of illegal sturgeon, a couple other supervillains, and Foxbat. (Note: The costume consists of two neurons boldly displayed with a crackling energy link drawn between them over her feminine torso anatomy.) Foxbat: FINALLY! A WOMAN WHO THINKS WITH HER BREASTS!

Re: Superhero Politics Also consider reading the new comic "Red Menace." It's fabulous and may help you out a great deal.

Re: Secret IDs: In or Out? I can because the Killing Joke is part of the slippery slope of fan contempt. The Joker, PROPERLY written, shouldn't be doing things like that. Somewhere along the line, people forgot that comics don't have to be great bildungsroman art in every issue. Yes, I am writing an adventure called Mind Over Matter that deals with these very issues of "Grimmer Heroes" and their behavior, the idea of hero worship, and "where have all the kid sidekicks gone." (Shameless plug, but when you see it and the 30+ character sheets that go into it, I'm hoping you'll give me a great hug and say "Thanks, Michael. You changed my whole world.") Yes, I think comics have moved too far towards realism, and I think a lot of my players don't understand that realism isn't real either. Suspend your disbelief. Go along for the ride. And be a hero.

Re: Best and Worst Costume/Appearance Changes That depends on who the villain of Civil War is. Personally, I think the worst costume change ever was Batman killing the big gold circle on his chest when, quite frankly, he has the most body armor on his torso and wants people to aim there.

Re: Secret IDs: In or Out? That's why my Paul Revere High Teen Champions setting (in my Legacies world) is highly influenced by Veronica Mars in addition to other sources. I'm working on the project now, though it's significantly long and has like fifteen character sheets. (Ow)

Re: Superhero Politics Considering Vladimir Putin's politics right now, you might want to reconsider that statement. Russia is moving back towards Hard Line politics now.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Millennium Guard Headquarters...Just after the discovery that there is a town full of Robots somewhere in Montana. Gibraltar: Wait? The government can’t just do whatever they want? Someone really screwed up the government! Magus: Unless you want to be recycled as building materials, you had better change your mind.

Re: Secret IDs: In or Out? (Off Topic) You should take The Joker off your list. The Joker is obsessed with Batman. He is NOT interested in Bruce Wayne or anything having to do with him. He has, in fact, killed people before FOR trying to take Batman's mask OFF. It really depends on the psychology of the psychopath. And the problem is that many supervillains are psychopathic. The problem is, the psychopath focuses on the hero and his iconic persona rather than the person under it. If the psychopath tries to find out who the hero REALLY is, then he's not a psychopath anymore, really.

Re: Our Campaign's 25th Anniversary Well, mine is only reaching it's 20th next year, but it's more of a living world than it is a single game. Of course, those of you who have seen my work may suspect that I'm either a little bit crazy, or VERY good, or both. Needless to say, Mind over Matter is my 20th anniversary playtest. Let's hope I can get it all done by the deadline.

Re: Secret IDs: In or Out? The point I was trying to make, which Trebuchet, I think, noticed, is that the hero's actions are heroic not only because of the fact that no one knows who he is, so that he could be anyone, but ALSO... Because the thing that makes a hero's actions heroic has nothing to do with the secret identity. It just makes it more socially acceptable to a wider range of people. The thing that makes a hero's actions heroic is not doing the right thing, because the right thing is debatable. The thing that makes a hero's actions succeed are not only the mystery of the secret identity that gives him or her his anonymity, but also the very STRENGTH OF HIS MORAL CODE in combination with this. Because the hero is anonymous, and simultaneously morally superior to the villain, he could be ANY person. It is what the hero represents both as a powerful individual and as a representation of a higher standard of social behavior that makes the secret identity necessary, to appeal to the widest range of people and lead by example to bring about a better world. But the problem is, we now have "heroes" whose moral code is faulty. Heroes who kill, and feel that they are justified in being judge, jury, and executioner. These heroes are not heroic in a superheroic level game. The secret identity is merely a place for a murderer to hide behind. As a result of this societal shift (And that's really what it is) the concept of the superhero is in jeopardy. This is why Secret Identity also has to remain a disadvantage. So that those who deliberately violate the moral code of the superhero immediately acquire the disadvantage of being hunted by their fellow superheroes. If you want to play a campaign of super powered law enforcement, go ahead. But that's Dark Champions and not Champions.

Re: Secret IDs: In or Out? Without the costumes, there's really no point in running a Superhero game. You have a game of superbeings, but it's not a superhero game. Even a uniform is technically a costume. To get back to what I was saying earlier, I think that if we want to reverse this trend, we need to run, write and publish adventures (See some of my stuff in Digital Hero) that address many of these issues directly. If we don't CREATE dumb stories, we will create a MARKET for good ones, because the same people that play the superhero games are often the biggest fans of comics in addition. Look for Unkindness, probably next Halloween, an adventure which really takes your moral dilemmas and spins them. The problem with modern comics is that there is no moral dilemma. There is no question of what decision the hero should make. A lot of times, the hero makes the right choice. But SOMETIMES...the hero makes the wrong one. The problem is that when you make a game like this, if the mistake is severe enough, what do you do? I know what I would do given half a chance. I'd write and run Mind over Matter (Which is being playtested even as we speak...heh...heh...heh...)