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Duke Bushido

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Duke Bushido last won the day on March 2

Duke Bushido had the most liked content!

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    http://www.rebel250.com is dead and gone. 2o years. What a ride.

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    Hero fan since my mimeograph of 1st ed! Thought 2nd ed was perfect. Still do ;)

    You know, I'm just going to put this right here where I can find it:

    https://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/2799-quote-of-the-week-from-my-gaming-group/

    (I like reading it, and I have the Devil's own time trying to find it)
  • Occupation
    inane and boring. Thank God I have a family!

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  1. Let's see.... Worked both jobs for a total shift length of nineteen and a half hours, then it was my anniversary. Wife wanted to go to Bike Week. Left for Daytona- five-ish hour ride from here. Spent the day, with a brief nap on the beach. Got back in time to take a shower and go to work. Got home and she was called in to her job, which left me to pick up the boy when he got back from his band competition. Decided to cruise the board as one of several "gotta stay awake" distractions." Finally got the "come pick me up" call just before midnight. Got to bed about four hours ago. _That_ is how it is an activation roll. For whatever reason, upon waking, I thought "you said 'Activation roll,' but in modern parlance, there is a non-homebrewed modification of that called 'requires a roll.' The difference? Essentially the name, but this guy might be new to the game, or might not see the essential sameness; it might be helpful to log on and correct yourself. Chuckled thinking "at this point, LL or Hugh has probably already made that direction for you. Log on to correct myself. Find an "Explain yourself! Justify this horse manure!" tirade instead. Remind myself that I do not need this crap. Peace.
  2. 15 points of additional DEF with an activation roll. If I recall correctly, it ahould be PD versus PD attacks, but I honestly,haven't read that module since it was new.
  3. My apologies, Surbrook, bur the fact is that when I listen to music (a quick Google told me who Bono is. Didn't really help me get the joke, but hey-! I tried. :lol:) it has always been swing, metal, bluegrass, showtunes, or classical. and I havent turned a radio on since some point around 1990.
  4. Thanks for the handy translation. I thought that was Popeye. Oddly, I am no less at a loss of comprehension....
  5. "But _you're a doctor!' "I am a _physicist!" "He has a physical injury!" Same campaign: "Aren't you a scientist? Good with numbers?" "I am a physicist! I create lab accidents and super Powers!" From the youth group: Kinetica: "he'll never make in time!" GM: well he has already turned to race down the hallway toward the window... "I will have to go full sonic-" "He"s kind of filling the hallway-" "I go Desolid and blast through him!" Magnus (upon seeing Kinetica's ephemeral desolid form burst from his chest, leaps forward grabbing): "crap! My soul!"
  6. Ah- That thing. I would suggest that a grab and a throw are two different things- I have suggested it before, actually. You and I both participated- with several others- in a very lengthy conversation on that same subject. However, not every "throw" really needs a grab maneuver- redirecting or even tripping a charging opponent for example: the whole "maneuver" is just pre-allocated skill levels that are in place while you makr the target fall. And get this: Despite its baffling popularity,it does a p$ poor job of it. Look at these maneuvers: I add 2 to my OCV and reduce my OCV by one. This is a martial "maneuver." I reduce my DCV by one and add a die of damage. This is a martial maneuver. Okay, cool. Your changes to your allocated skill levels have caused him to... Fall, I guess? It says fall... You add a die to _what_, exactly? My STR damage! Oh. Hiw do you apply your STR damage? I strike! Okay. But there is an extra die, and a change to CV because this is a _martial_ strike! Okay, got it. How about you, Snapshot? Uh, I'm gonna allocate some skill levels- I am gonna put one into my OCV and add two dice to my damage with my gun. Oh. Martial gun? Martial bullets? Nah; just some well-placed shots, I guess. I ain't no ninja. Got it. I accept that a disproportionately large number of martial arts fans play HERO because "it has a dedicated and sophisticated martial Arts... 'System....' But the abject refusal by intelligent people (or at least, people I have always thiught of as intelligent) to see it for precisely what it is- even in the face of Allston himself having made no secret of it- is beyond baffling.
  7. I hope you don't take this wrong, but it feels like you are asking,"what is the SFX for this?" If that"s the case- again: without flippancy-- it is whatever the purchaser of the maneuver declares them to be. You base your understanding, as you say, on martial Arts. The game doesn't. The game bases martial Arts on otherwise-illegally subdivide skill levels. The "martial Arts" part is literally,just the stx of these partial skill levels.this is how we end up with 'martian desert wrestling" and "Klingon something or other" and "Gun-Fu." The Spiderpeople of the norther shores and their six-armed gymkata are just as related to HERO System Martial arts (the concept; not the book) as is actual earthly karate, simply because the martial arts system is a simulator. Problematically, the system works,better for the spider people and,morlocks and any other fictional group ir fictional martial art because a fictional system can be tweaked to fit into the confines of the system. A real martial art can't. We can pretend it can-- we seem to really enjoy pretending it can- but no simulation has everything. HERO fakes,it by having pretty much _both in_- it is just a series of package deals on skill levels with lots of flavor text-- but weirdly, it is the lack of actual substance that seems to sell it: a martial strike can be whatever maneuver you want it to be: a punch, a kick, a,head butt, a tongue strike, smashing an opponent with your enormous beak.. And that is why I cant really tell you what a martial throw is, other than to say "it is a maneuver that, up on its conclusion, the target will be prone." After That, it is one-hundred-percebt your call. I know; that isn't exaclty what you are asking, but what you are asking doesnt have a true "correct' answer outside of the mechanics. It could be a kung fu flip, a judo throw,an akido redirection, or a swift kick in the jimmies. The HSM maneuvers are _not_, themselves. Combat (or any other) maneuver. They are the package of pre-assigned skill levels that you allocate when you use the maneuver you made up when you boight that micro package. I know that someone out there is thinking "a kick to the Jimmies is an NND Nerve Strike!" but that is incorrect. A kick to the jimmies is a special effect for a mechanic, both of which I get to select, and the combine into whatever I say they are. Let's move away from martial Arts for a moment. Let's take a quick look at super-powered wild card "Laserface" and his recent interview with Channel 113's Amanda Calmione: So... Why are you calling me that, again? Well you've been rather mysterious, popping up and disappearing without so much as a hey-how-are-ya? We don't know your actual name- It's Rick. My name is Rick. -because You supertypes are all so mysterious and concerned about your private lives- No, really; it's okay. I'm cool with it. Call me Rick. -plus there's the mask- That... That is actually,_necessary; it is part of the halo equupment that allows me to both augment my natural psionic powers and to counteract the inhibitor module the aliens planted in my brain. See, I can't have that removed by any earthly surgeon because our tech just isnt there- --and that georgeous crystal face piece- Oh, yeah, see, my powers are routed via alien-grown neural tissue implanted around my optic nerves- it was a process they use to make others more susceptible to thwir mind control, believe it or not, but for some reason, it had a reverse effect on me. Anyway, the energues have to be refined and purified and certain wavelengths- -and _all_ those _beautiful prismatic lasers, shot directly outta your face like that, and, you know... Directly into somoneone else's face. We are not exaclty certain yet,just how sinister these face lasers of your are, Laserface- -really, Amanda, Rick is _fine_; my girlfriend might even get a kick out of it. Uh, oh, crap- uh, Rest Her Soul,in Peace. Her poor, departed soul, I mean. -or just what these face lasers do- You could ask. ... Wait, seriously? _yeah_! We could just ask? And you would just... Tell us..? I agreed to be on your show, didn't I? The Nine AM Campaign? I know ir's a talk show! I watch it all the time betwe-- uh, between battles in front of electronic stores.- -and between visits to your deceased girlfriend? Wha?! Oh; Yeah; sure. Between long brooding sessions where I offer god himself anything in exhange for just a little more time with Mel..... Girlfriend..... Meh poor dead girlfriend... -who says he will tell us the secret of killing people with face lasers-- face lasers from a man who calls,himself.. Laser _Face_! Coincidence? Or deadly threat? I call myself Rick! _you_ call me Laserface... Apparently.... I dont even like it! So what is the secret? When you shoot someone in the face with you face lasers, just how badly are you hurting them? I take offense at that, Amanda! That is a heck of an accusation! I have more power than just hurting people you know? Like what? Well, sometimes I can dazzle their sense of sight, causing him to have to stop what he is doing and regroup. It can give innocent bystanders a chance to flee or even allow me to do better against a more skilled opponent by hampering his ability to react or counter attack. So when you laser your face laser into a victim's face, you are actually _blinding_ them...?! Well, only in a manner of speaking, and it is more of a temporary disorientation; it is actually a finely-tuned fraction of my ability to control minds-- And how does _that_ work, Laserface? We have never seen you do anything but blind victim after victim after victim-- They were criminals-- Who are human beings, and American Citizens-- The Martian Mandroid is _none_ of those things! --who deserve due process under the law-- I was arresting them! So about this "mind control".... Oh, it is quite simple, Amanda. A focused series of light patterns delivered directly to the optic nerve allows me to create in the target the temporary desire to do some particular thing: put the policeman down; stop fireblasting traffic; civians are sacred and should not be touched-- So you can make them alter their behavior-- Temporarily, and only to a point, but yes, at least a little- There you have it, Campaign City. Laserface: zombie-maker, necrophile. WHAT-?! How often do you "see" this dead girlfriend of yours? How much time,do you spend with her? Does this desire to be able to spend 'just a few more minutes" with her stem from your premature-- WAIT A MINUTE!! It isn't that _at all_! I go to visit her grave! I bring flowers! I talk to her spirit. What is _wrong_ with you?!! I don't make zombies, either! I can temporarily calm a single target by reducing their desire to so violent things. That's it! I dont make slaves or zombies; I just convince them that they want to be slightly more cooperative. Even that doesn't last-- So your pretty much useless to stomp a rampaging berserker; is that what I am hearing? II can do other things! Like what? So far, you can Flash people with a laser from your face. You can hypnotize people with a laser from your face. Can you do anything other than shoot a laser from your face? I can overload their nervous system; if I do it perfectly, they will temporarily collapse into a dazed state of semi-consciousness- Quite convenient for a necrophile, isn't it? I am _not_...! Look, all I do is used a focused pattern of light directed at their optic nerves to bypass their body's normal defenses against damage and overwhelm their sensory input centers- And You do this how? With another laser from your face? Well... Technically yes. It's the blue one.... So can you do anything besides project lasers from your face? Ironically, I can also shoot actual lasers from my face.... Really? Yes. I took down Amperage that way after a brief combat. Amperage is small time, though. He has been known to be brought down by SWAT members wearing insulated suits. Are you saying that you attacked a relatively low-powered individual with the same attack that peeled away a heavily armored helmet cannon? Wha-.. Oh, no; not at all. I have a much more powerful attack that I used against Tank Top-- An attack that I would like to remind the audience is powerful enough to peel back steel armor! Well yes, but I would never dream of using that attack on anyone that I could seriously injure with it! An attack that could easily kill-- Never! I am not a villain! Your name is Laserface! My name is _Rick_- A man whose only power is a weapon of incredible devestation, launched from his face, and capable of destroying anything that he happens to be looking at- You know what? I'm leaving. You sisnt used to be like this! What happened? Geraldo's ratings went up-- Yes, but no one is ever going to take him seriously as a real journalist again. But his ratings went up. You are better than this, Amanda- And you're a murderous zombie-making necrophile horror walking the streets of Campaign City, Laserface. I'd say we're even... You know, when you put it that way, I have to agree.... In short, a kick to groin is only an NND if I define it as one. If I delarw that I have mastered the technique to the point that it does no actual contact Damage but flips you over backwards, then it is a throw (assyming I say it is). I could even define it as "a kick towars the groin that is so terrifyingly powerful the target leaps over backwards to avoid it, falss over and sprains his neck in the process. Just like I can define Armor as luck or as "five PD of that bullet missed me completely."
  8. I have one scenario that almost every new player group goes through- mostly it foe me to find out who they are as players and to see who still needs coaching, etc. Other than that... Yes. Honestly, if you pull back far enough, there are only a dozen plots; you just change the set dressing.
  9. I have to agree with Lone Wolf. All of our campaigns- all of them-- start out at low level. As far as the need for backup and support-- Well, _that_ is why you form a team. (And yes; that is one of many reasons I prefer to start out with 200-250pt Pcs)
  10. Interesting timing.... I have just recently rerurned to playing with hex flowers. This dovetails nicely.
  11. I might be; I really don't know. Let's be clear here: outside of this forum, the vast majority of my official superhero knowledge comes from the lunch boxes of other kids in the sixties..... Forty-ish; wears no shirt under am open vest made of what appears to be lion face. Pants and shoes from the Danskin Ladies' collection. I absolutely very much am unaware of that, or was until just now. Still, bare-handed against ranged entangled.... And I am assuming the juice wears off eventually?
  12. We are taking that as the given by which "challenge" is to be judged (or so I assumed; this one could be entirely on me). Given a teen with super-strength, super agility, damger sense, ranged restraints, etc-- I find it difficult to accept that a 40-year-old normal human who fights bare-handed in a rejected disco costume presents a serious challenge to said bug-eyed teen.
  13. Wow! You guys are really _on_ tonight! That ia the most fun I have had in some time! Between this and Chris writing dialogue for the Dr., Seuss slasher movie, I have laughed all night!
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