Duke Bushido

This is a people ferry in Japan. It's called (named?) Himiko, and I have been lead to believe it was designed by anime giant Leiji Matsumoto, of Space Battleship Yamato fame. I am telling you that because, if you're like me, it's just frustrating to see something really interesting, without enough context to look further into it. I am also telling you that it is the most beautiful mixture of retro-future gothic that I have seen since the model for the Cygnus in Disney's "The Black Hole."

Google says it's Jaye Davidson. (and apparently he's like _way _ less disturbingly girlie-hot, and I'm bizarrely good with that)

Me, too!

Music: Depends on the scene: Captain Howdy or Come Out and Play, both by Twisted Sister. Regent: George Burns Consort: That guy from the Stargate Movie-- you know the one. Heir apparent: David Keith Hero: Tawny Kitaen kitted up as Lady Amethyst (horrible comic; great imagery), albeit a tad "grimdarkier" than that pablum. Villain: Tom Baker (it's that creepy damned smile) Fantasy Race: Manphibians from whatever it was Marvel called themselves before they were Marvel.

Weapon: I nominate the Glaive from Krull. Incredibly magical, and nearly useless. Comes with two instruction manuals: How to Throw and Catch Glaives for Fun, Profit, and Personal Defense How to Wipe your Butt with a Hook

Never! It's cool and shady down here... and damp.... so very damp.....

Odd man out here (again) : I don't have any issue with it at all. I think I understand the feel you're going for, and I suspect you'd be catching less flack if hadn't justified not tracking END as "reducing bookeeping" but had instead said "I doan wanna." I assume casters aren't tracking personal END any more than anyone else? If that's true, it seems reasonable to me. I have never had a solid appreciation of the "all character types must work the same." I find "different concepts work differently" have a flavor-related appeal. That being said, I am of two minds on burning STUN: It's a _great_ way to control the use of magic in your games, but has two consequences. First, it means that injured sorcerers become less and less effective, as they can lose a chunk of their pool before they even get to act simply by being hit. They will remain less effective until they heal up a bit (though there may be a spell for that :lol:). Second, the way it feels: it feels more like super powers than magic, as the "oomph" seems to be coming not from the character's abilities or knowledge or skills, but from _him_: it's like DragonBall charge UPS, feel wise. Still if it works for you, the go for it. Someone (and it may have been you; I'm on a phone, and scrolling back up to check is.... Tedious...) said "endurance reserve.". This I like as a simulation of magic coming from _outside_ the sorcerer, and only being released or manipulated by him. Don't like the idea of "END" to power magic? Rename it. Call it magic juice or mana or something; the mechanic is the important part here: an external source of power. Let sorcerers buy their pool to whatever they want / can afford / fits in the campaign. Just like buying movement is the buy-in to be a speedster and buying martial maneuvers and related skills is the buy-in to be a martial artist (which no one ever decries), buying this pool is the buy-in to be a powerful wizard. Not only am I cool with it, I do it a lot. _however_. (and I think Doc made or alluded to a similar idea), if you require magic guys to buy a magic skill, then remember this: When Bruce Lee buys his martial maneuvers, he gets instant utility: CV bonuses, damage bonuses, etc. When the Flash buys his running, he gets instant utility. Requiring the purchase of "magic skill" without comparable utility very much _is_ just a point suck (I believe the word "tax" was bandied about, and it's appropriate). If you require both the skill and the pool to be purchased _before_ the character can use his abilities at all, he is being denied something. Consider this: PRE-building an "every mage gets this" pool that can be increased in small ways by increasing the skill roll (perhaps a +1 adds 2 to Recovery, and +5 adds 10 to the pool itself). Further, allow the character to spend points directly to increase to pool, but make sure he is getting some kind of utility for his defining buy-in; everyone does, and regardless of the concept, these little taxes can feel a bit heavy to the players themselves. Just a thought. Duke

I tend to agree with Phil. Based on his observations, I don't even know if I would build this as a power (unless the effects are radically different from the power being used: like Flash adding a Drain or or something like that. I think you might be better served creating a Critical Hit system for your campaign (as others have alluded to above) and calling it a day: hit by half? + X dice of effect, or times 1.x the actual effect. Roll a natural three? +Y dice of effect, or times 1.y the actual effect, etc. Just declare it the way the universe works, at least for main characters.

It comes from within, and begins with grossly divisive politics. Then it moves to war, fire, and mass reaping, followed by a very lengthy period of individual judgment. The Rapture is a later invention, it specifically discussed in the source material, and therefore discounted here. After that, the kingdom descends to earth and survivors are all in good and just servitude for the next thousand years. Your mileage may vary.

Dude... Danger Sense linked to Retrocognition would be _hillarious_!

Monster threatening kingdom: a relentless invasion of fire-proof ewoks.

I _love_ where you're going with this, but I am of two minds on your solutions: Most of my says "No; I think I would simply say "no" and then explain both why it was too "cheesy" as well as the ramifications (as you just described above). Mostly because I want to go ahead and have all the characters built and ready to play on game night, and not have to have a separate session of character gen again later for the one guy who decides "well that didn't work at all like I thought it would." Though I confess, the idea of "throwing it back at him" in play is _so_ cathartic.... Then there's the little bit of me that's saying "I'd mandate a blind teleport as response to a Flash, just as a panicked "I am about to be attacked!" reaction.

On the plus side, I got off a couple hours early tonight (yay! Only a twelve-hour day!), so I got to this sooner than I thought. On the negative side, I fell in love with this image, in spite of telling myself I wasn't going to do something like this. Yes; there were many more extremely-well-done, traditional-type images. Something in the composition and the set of his features made me accept that _this_ was the image I wanted to use. I am sorry about the watermark, but try to look around it. SO: Who _is_ he?

Yes; I have been tribble-ated. My thanks to the judge, and my sincerest apologies to everyone. I've only got about eight hours left on ahift; when I get home, the first thing I will do is find something to post. Again; I appolgize: I don't k ow how I missed this....