Duke Bushido

Re: What's the most useless supplement you'd actually like to see? "Professor Johnston, over here! We've found something..... See it, peering out from under the mummy? Careful now, men! What could it be....?" "Why--- why, it's a forum thread! Astounding! And look at the age of it! Professor Clyburn, this could change all we've come to accept about the death of an idea......." Mixed feelings. I've actually come to prefer them sneaking up on my in other books. Now a perfectly-type index of all the HERO typos ever; _that_ would get into my wallet but quick!

Re: How Do the Friction Manipulation Entangles Work?

Re: Building a Super-History... That was a used character, and you are welcome to take anything you do or do not want from it. This was a wierd, and as it was the very first one, the players followed it (off and on) to the very end. It's also an early wierd, and demonstrates nicely what can happen if you have to 'wing it' because you failed to note it when it was first introduced. Enjoy. Shortly after creating a base of ops, the players decided that they would need a small staff-- a couple of handymen, a janitor, a mechanic's assistant (for the gadget guy, to help with the big stuff), and a secretary to handle phone calls, appointments, etc. Immediately, so as to flesh out that big, big world feeling, I tossed out snippets of the habits of the staff, personalities, etc, and would occasionally have them strike up non-plot conversations. (as I said, if you don't do these things, when you do it to 'drop a clue,' they _know_ it's a clue. Mystey ruined.) As it turned out, one of the handymen left at _precisely_ 4:00 pm for three days every month. His wife had terrible 'monthly sickness,' and he helped her by picking up the kids from school, cooking dinner, etc. The players, by now used to the fact that I built detailed worlds (I've had players who join for temp, and never leave till they leave town, so I figure I'm doing something right), simply accepted it. (much like anyone would in real life, right?) Over the course of the campaign, the characters uncovered a secret organization (details unimportant for your world; any dangerous paramilitary supremecist group with politcal connections will do) that was keeping tabs on supers around the world-- learning their habits and weaknesses, etc. The group met monthly, at 6:00 pm, every full-moon. Still no connection. Then one of the characters, in secret ID, is leaving the base just after the handyman and offers him a ride to pick up the kids (the NPC rode the bus-- he was a greenie) which he steadfastly refused, holding out against all persuasion. The player assumed the man was simply leery of the 'stranger' and let it ride. Telling another character about it (who was researching the organization) sent up alarm bells, so he began to research the NPC. They discovered he had no children, and no wife. In fact, he had no family at all, and his birth certificate was a forgery. Immediately the group forms a plan to investigate the handyman. To condense the rest of the investigation, they ultimately discover that he was _not_ a member of _any_ organization, evil or otherwise. He was simply a three-hundred-and-fifty year old werefish, desperate to be at home, safely in the tub when 'The Change' came upon him......... This is what coined the term. The player heading the investigation (the best detective-related skills, and ultimately team leader), turns away from the skylight, looks at the rest of the team (all players very confused now) and says "Hunh. That's wierd." They would continue to check on him from time to time, to ensure that he didn't 'go on a homicidal rampage' (oh, the humanity! I bruised my ribs holding that laugh inside me!) and would now and again try to dig into his past. At the conclusion of that campaign, a year or so later real-time, one of the players protested "But it can't be over! What about Jerry?!" (Jerry being the werefish, of course) To this day, anything that gets noticed but doesn't raise any alarms is called a 'wierd' at our table.

Re: New Power: Desolidification

Re: Hero with a bad ticker? Right. But with a large heart attack, you might want to add a _permanent_ reduction to REC or END, even if only a small one. During a large heart attack, some of the heart tissue actually dies from lack of oxygenation. It won't come back to life. Uh--- never mind. That really depends on how real vs comic book you want to go, doesn't it?

Re: New Power: Invulnerability Sounds like your on to something, but what do you see being gained by _Does Not Bleed_ if the character takes no BODY damage to begin with? As I understand it, bleeding is tied directly to BODY damage as both cause and effect. I'd like to hear what you have in mind here. Also, what corollation (sp) do you see between "Takes No BODY" and _No Hit Locations_? Or is it just a price modifier sort of thing? I am intrigued. At the moment, I am pretty happy with the idea of "Takes No Body," but am unsure of the pricing. But I am undecided as to whether the 'lesser' version of it-- the one where a character can suffer infinite BODY damage but cannot die-- can even work as a limited version: What sort of_general_ Limitations would accurately define such a restriction? Would it require a power-specific Limitation (Which I really don't care for)? Or maybe an anti-adder-- some kind of 'subtractor?' (which is neat, but as it is unprecedented, I'd like to avoid it if possible to do so elegantly). Or should it exist as as distinctly separate power, such that we are distinguishing "Indestructable" from "Durable"? My mind..... oh, how she reels....

Re: Silly question, How much damage do nukes do HA! I had forgotten that! Thanks for the chuckle.

Re: Overwhelming PRE attacks Excellent idea! I think my next mentalist villain is going to have to find a good sfx for such a construct......

Re: Introductions and a question about jumping. "FlubberHulk!" -Stolen-! (oh, and uh-- thanks!) And yes, we also typically sell back leaping for very large or top-end bricks. They use the points for Reduced End, usually......

Re: Brass knuckles and high strength characters Beautiful! Rep for elegance!

Re: Avlse Atta Boy! Let me know if I can help! :rofl:

Re: Silly question, How much damage do nukes do Unfortunately, my books are packed up, awaiting a move. But if I remember right, Nukes are written up fairly well in 3E. Perhaps someone else on the board has a book he can check for you. Granted, things have changed a bit so it will require a bit of re-work, but it might still provide a nice starting point.

Re: Silence - character for critique Nice development; round character. All-in-all, nice job. I have to agree with OddHat on the Muteness, however. I've tried it twice: my very first character back in '81 was a mute Martial Artist (back in the day of "MA means STRx1.5 punches and STRx2 kicks!). Other than that, the other players ejoyed him, but the muteness was so frustrating that the team mentalist horded EP to buy telepathy so I could quit writing notes (but I still had to whisper to him). And of course, any time we had to 'split up' either we were always together or we had to stop the session so I could whisper to him and he could relay to everyone else..... I ended up hoarding EP to have his vocal cords repaired (ain't super-science grand?!) Tried it again ten years later, in 91, with a different group. A mute Blaster. Less interesting character, so it was even harder to forgive. After two sessions, the GM requested that I 'retcon' the character, buying off the disad and taking negative EP to do so. And two years ago, I dropped a mute Brick villain on my players. Not being able to banter (or interrogate, even!) with the villain actually offended the players. I've learned my lesson, really. Mute makes a great concept, but it's one of those things: "Cool in the book; unworkable in the movie." But other than that one sticking point, great character! Duke

Re: New Power: Invulnerability As would I, actually. If no one else tries it on, I'll take a stab at it later on in the week or early next. Right now, it's rack time......

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Not a stereotype; it's true as far as I've ever seen. Urban folk all seem to think that wanting to say something is the same as having something to say. Rural types know better.

Re: Concept help! Hair Powers I'd suggest extra limbs or something, but I can't run over and check for you--- my hair bought IPE a few years back.... Pretty irritating... Nine brothers, a dozen uncles, two grandfathers. Only one of us was so stricken....... Duke

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Great! If things get out of hand, we can just snatch bumpers and settle it! Yep; I knew I liked him for a damned good reason! Duke

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER In the slow season for house-moving many years ago, I took a part-time job turning wrenches at TireClone; ("We're not who you think we are, but we'll take yer dough!"). The assistant manager was a fresh promotion, and was feeling all snugly about himself and the company. He went to the personal expense of printing up new cards for all the white shirts. They were all about the same: Jim X, Sales; Dana X, Gen Manager, etc. The abbreviations were critical, here. I still have (unless my wife finally tossed it) in my card file a copy of his card: Charlie Cason, *** Manager. And yes, I rudely used his entire name without his permission to tell an embarrasing story. He has it coming. Currently, he and his brother own a shop of their own: Cason's Amoco. It's here in Savannah. If I could remember the number, I'd give it to you. Call and ask for the *** Manager. (For the hard of thinking, *** looks a lot like A [shift 4] [shift 4]) Duke

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER heh heh heh heh--- for reasons best left unsaid in polite company, the only potential problem that can arise from my being in tough political or religious or even just flatulent company is my tendency to match force with force. No, not a threat-- it's ridiculous to even think that posturing at the little glowing box on my desk is any more impressive to strangers than it is to me, right? It is simply that I'm a farm boy, and I grew up with nine brothers and seven sisters. I've been know to reflexively push back 'too hard' and become offensive myself. And because of that, I try to take extra pains to be polite and clear, and I promise, I won't dawdle here too long! 8D And thanks for the Welcome, Doc! Duke

Re: New Power: Invulnerability Ah.... so I'm not the only one who feels that we have begun to move into two separate powers, then? Though I'd still like to find a way to reconcile one as advantages/limitations of the other...... Duke

Re: YOUR Favourite/Funniest/Silliest Presence Attack Moment? Thanks for the correction, kind Sir. :wink: I was going by memory; I need to get back around to looking at your site. I haven't popped in since I was last on the Sysabend list. Good stuff, as I recall. Duke

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Ho-YEAH! Nothing against Texans, but in context, that was funny as Hell! :rofl: Duke

Re: Duke (art and characters) I never owned DI (curses! 8D ), so I can't say. But he did, I believe, the bulk of the art for 2E and many supplements up through 3E. When I was appreciating the first few character pics you put up, I was physically struck by the similarities-- as I said, it was a trip down memory lane, and such vacations are always pleasant. Sadly, I have been lead to believe that Mr. Williams is no longer with us. Please, understand that I merely mention similarities; viewing your later works shows that your own art has advanced to a level that I never saw from him, and everything you've supplied here is sublime. Duke (

Re: Avlse Right you are, Christopher (Chris?). I just finished telling the story to one of my players-- about how we've been bantering the pros and cons of our mutually exclusive viewpoints, only to find out (several days later) that we are in fact all very much in agreement! He's going to let me know when he's done laughing......

Re: Avlse heh heh heh heh heh----- The influence of the software world amuses me: This isn't #6, becuase it's just some additions and corrections to #5, so it's #5.[seemingly meaningless number here]. But we made some more corrections, so now we've got #5.[first odd number + original meaningless number, total must be greater than original OMN, but not high enough to make #6.anything]. Never mind that #5 was merely corrections and additions to #4, which was corrections and addtions to #3, etc..... Thank you software companies! We will never again need the next whole number!