Duke Bushido

Re: Overwhelming PRE attacks Oooh! Nasty!

Re: Introductions and a question about jumping. I'm of two minds on this (and late getting in; I'm still crawling around, looking for neat stuff ). First, I tend to agree with Sean, and in our Heroic campaigns, that's pretty much how we do it. It's more than just a muscle-to-mass thing; it's a leverage thing as well. Second, in the supers campaigns, we treat jumping distance like the throwing chart. No, we don't throw ourselves, but for characters with DI, etc, we find their jumping distance on the STR chart, subtract the amount of STR needed to lift their weight, and use that new number to determine their leaping distance. Other than that, I've never had a real gripe with the jumping mechanics (for supers). They're supers, after all. Besides, studying it too closely opens the door for "why can't bricks run faster? Their muscular legs can push much more powerfully with each pump, propelling them greater distances in each stride" and "Why can't bricks swim faster? Their powerful arms can really thrust back against the water. Just like a boat prop, the 'harder' you can compact the water behind the prop, the more propulsion you get, right?" and other things...... So we use two tiny changes, and don't look too closely. The current mechanics do not glaringly detract from the enjoyment of our game, and that's really the important thing us. As always, YMMV. Duke [EDIT to remove some tailing quotes I forgot to clear before posting. Oops....]

Re: Brass knuckles and high strength characters Finally! Something usefull at a Radio Shack! :D Duke

Re: Avlse

Re: New Power: Desolidification Well, if you are asking the whole class, all I can say is that I prefer version one, at least as a jumping off point for our own campaigns. We already use Desolid way, way different from the book. But I like some of the modifiers you've come up with, and may well be borrowing them. Duke

Re: New Power: Invulnerability Ah, I see. Then the ideas I popped up above really wouldn't do you any good anyway, would they? Though I suppose you could use them to keep Characters alive and suffereing truly ridiculous penalties, hoping for that elusive '3' on their next roll! 8D Though with the idea in mind that you aren't _necessarily_ unconcious from Body Damage, I'll have to think about allowing characters to remain concious until -1(BODY), though obviously in bad shape-- bleeding, etc. Then asses forced unconsciousness etc as we already use. This will have the added affect of making the 'Inuvulnerable' (name to be decided on later) Limitation to Takes No BODY actually limiting while still allowing the player to reap some benefit from having bought the power in the first place. That is to say, he won't be killed and is therefore invulnerable, but will very much suffer 'normal' (and beyond) damage for the privellege _and_ be succeptible to the Bleeding rules, which will of course advance their poor condition. Just some thoughts. Actually, this thought has me running around with thoughts as if they were scissors! I need to get some of this on paper, or at least on disk..... Duke

Re: Brass knuckles and high strength characters That was kind of my point, actually. My appologies for any clarity issues. What I've seen in Heroic campaigns is that while the GM has no problem letting Joe Anyobody pick up a 3d6RKA Explosive Autofire grenade launcher, suddenly they choke on the idea of letting a high-strength character get another die or two of punch damage doing the same thing. It's like there's an invisible rule that says once your STR dice exceed a weapon's dice, it is not possible to use a weapon to add to your STR dice. I've always felt that just because you'll likely break it doesn't mean that you shouldn't be allowed to use it. And if you pay enough _money_ for it (I think I may have muddled the discussion through ommision of that word), you ought to be able to have one made that you _can_ use without breaking it. That's all I was commenting on. Duke

Re: Pulp Hero, after looking it over Head count! Demander #1-- hardcover Pulp Hero Demander #1-- decoder ring Who else?!

Re: New Power: Invulnerability Oh--- I was under the impression that there _were_ penalties for negative BODY.... I hate that my rule books are packed up! Grrr..... I may have glossed over that to begin with, honestly. We've always played that a character at -1 Body was unconscious, -2(BODY) was dead or dying, depending on theme (usually dead). With the idea I put forward, I was thinking along the lines of up to -2(Body) you can heal as normal. Regain conciousness at 1BODY each additional negative multiple of BODY moves healing rate down the time chart; doubles healing time; whatever works for you. Essentially, I was opening the floor for discussion of the idea. But if there are no effects for negative Body, then no, it wouldn't be very different from just being unstoppable period. Hmmmm..... So what sort of penalties do you asses for negative BODY?

Re: How much attention do you give to powers' Senses visibility rules? Okay-- a quick flurry of answers: Thanks for the head's up on The Tick; I was sort of under the impression that it was some sort of 'in' joke, and so I didn't bother googling for it. What I did find filled me with much merriment. I'm going to have to find some way to see those cartoons! (Now there's a rare thing to hear me say...) I liked the Kirk Trek, partly because I'm old, and partly because I just don't think that you can win by talking an opponent to death, and partly because Kirk had all kinds of tech, whereas one hundred years later, everything would be resolved by 'shields.' Though I am stirred to memory of a joke an employee once told me. First, some background. I live in Savannah, Georgia, USA, and Todd (my employee at the time) was something of an unusual persona for this area; he was a black man (he hated the term 'African American.' He'd tell you instantly that he, nor his parents, nor theirs, nor theirs, had ever had any recollection of Africa. He then proved that he was 'more American American' than I was (his family had been here longer, it seems) who loved science fiction. Unusual in this area. He asked me once "Duke, you ever notice that the only black Vulcan is named 'Tupac?' [yes, it was an intentional mispronunciation]. I keep waiting for him to turn around and say "Captain, my Homie; suggest we modify the shields and 'bus' a cap in dey ***....." Let me further explain that Todd was offended by the 'black' vulcan as a concept. He reasoned that Vulcans were aliens (or motorcycles), and as such it seemed extrodinary that they would look as human as they do; having the exact same races seemed dubious, and as Vulcans were supposed to have green blood, he felt that 'darker skinned Vulcans' would look more green than brown. (I never knew when he was kidding or not; he was very dry in his humor.) He also felt that he could more readily accept an alien race that was exclusively 'African American' in appearance easier than one that had all the human races represented in their own appearance. (at this point, one of the drivers would usually come in announce that they were going to 'smack the geek out of both of us'... ) And thirdly, I have no idea what the Picard manoeuvre is. Up until this very moment, I thought it was the ability to bore an enemy into submission... :D Please enlighten me, Sensei! Duke

Re: Brass knuckles and high strength characters This is an interesting topic, as in the past I have seen it really polarize a group (keep in mind that he bulk of our games are Heroic instead of supers). A lot of people don't want to let a character simply pick up a weapon he didn't pay points for and add a die or two of damage to his STR. I find it interesting that no one seems to mind that he could pick up a sword, crossbow, or plasma rifle he didn't pay points for and start hacking, poking, and slagging his way across the entire town. Personally, I'd follow the suggestions above that you model it as HA and just let it add a die or two to his damage, though I am also partial to Mitchell's workaroud as well. That one sticks pretty close to rules as written, and doesn't even need the small justification of 'well it just makes sense.' And it will still allow him to bump up his damage a bit, especially against non-res defenses. If it makes it feel more 'balanced,' you can make Gargantua pay more money for his knucks, as they will require much more material and take much longer to custom make. Possibly rule that because they have to be 'so' big to add to his already massive damage that just swinging them will asses a -1 to O or DCV. Whatever it takes to keep it from feeling overpowering. But I'm still good with '+2d6, period.' Let us know what you decide to go with! Duke

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER The chainsaw warning occurs, to the best of my knowledge, exclusively on Husqvarna chainsaws, and has never actually been spelled out. Rather, there is a large circle-with-a-slash-through-it type picture of someone trying to grab the bar (where the chain is) and another one where someone is pulling the saw through an up-cut and a person is on the other side of the log from him. You sort of have to draw your own conclusions about whether 'genitals' is intended, or even 'stopping' the saw. But it's certainly headed that way in the picture. I am inclined to think that many of the other 'real examples' in that particular e-mail (I think I've gotten it an even dozen times now) are equally exaggerated. And L. Marcus, yes, we get that many frivilous law suits here. It's not the courts fault per se; it is the predatory instincts of the lawyers and their ability to whip up the greed factor in the average American. So what if the only winner is the lawyer (who gets paid either way, just varying amounts). That's really all he was after anyway. Frankly, I think a lot of this would stop if stupidity hurt as much as it should. And on the subject of chainsaws, I really wish that my clipboard worked on this forum. I've got a doozy of a chainsaw story to share....... Duke

Re: Duke (art and characters) Duke---- I am so glad I stumbled across this thread! Your art is great, and reminiscent of the work of Mark Williams, without whose art I probably would never have even noticed Champions all those many years ago, and been a much less satisfied person today. Thanks for the art, good stuff! and thanks for the nostalgia. (the other) Duke

Re: I'm selling my miniatures collection! Got a link to some pics?

Re: Super Prisons without Super Tech

Re: Who are the really great Homage characters of the Champons Universe and beyond? Ahh, never mind. It's not like I'm qualified to post in this thread anyway. I guess I can let the Dan Hibiki thing slide...... Duke

Re: I need a team name The Barbie Friends! :D:D:D Just kidding, of course. I am terribly sorry, but with such a lead-up, and the light-hearted comment, and my daughter here playing next to me...... It just had to be said. Peace. Duke

Re: YOUR Favourite/Funniest/Silliest Presence Attack Moment? I think my favorite is one I found posted on Surbrook's pages a while back: new hero, role-paying his origin story. So far, he's even unnamed (If I am remembering the correctly). He sees a crime being commited, wraps a scarf around his face, leaps into the fray with act of violence, soliloquy-- the whole hero Shtick. And apparently it gets some results, right up until the started leader gasps out "Who are you?!" At which point the player evidently realizes he has not yet named his character. So he replies with "I don't know....." I'm not sure how accurate that re-telling is, but there's a few funny things on Surbrook's site; he has a couple pages of it. Fun reading!

Re: Building a Super-History... I'm glad you like the "daily news" idea-- it's not only a great way to work in subtle clues while simultaneously supporting the 'big, big world' idea, but it also helps to generate possible seeds down the road. I can't stress this enough: Write them down! Every one of them. Even if you don't develop them further, you can at least be consistent with updates on long-running stories, such as elections, invasions, pollution issues, whatever. And on the 'Used Character Drive,' I'll offer up this long-standing favorite villain from several supers campaigns. The players liked "Being able to stop someone with such incredible power! (there's a note on this later)" while I liked the fact that despite hundreds of hints, they never figured out that he had no power, and were never able capture him (part of what they thought was 'incredible power' can be chalked up to amazingly bad rolls at crucial times). I offer him because he amuses a lot of people, and because it's time to let the secret out to any of my own players who may be lurking here. As it's for inspiration only, I'll spare you the full write-up and give you just the background: TNT, the Kinetic Man Powers: He is alleged to have the powers to instantly weaken molecular bonds and accellerate the movement sub-atomic particles. In a nutshell, this ability allows him to cause any object to explode violently; the more massive the object, the more powerful the explosion. He has an uncanny knack for getting in front of the press- papers, television, whatever. While he does not come off as a glory-hound, there is no doubt that he likes trouncing heroes as publically as possible. Tactics: TNT controls a powerful ability, but most of his crimes have a 'small time' feel about them. Often he simply robs jewelry stores, banks, liquor stores, whatever. If there is press about, he will make a presence attack, which includes simple threats, made ominous by his voice-scrambler reverb gear: "I warn the people of 'Campaign City;' do not try to stand against the matter-destructive powers of TNT, the Kinetic Man!" at which point he will blow up one or two objects and depart. If the Heroes show up to stop him, he prefers to engage them only briefly-- just enough to get some press 'holding his own' or even 'winning' against the heroes. He is not stupid, and if it is obvious that he can't last more than a round or two against the heroes, he will simply begin setting off explosions all over the combat area (to distract the heroes or force them to protect other people) and run like the wind, mocking them as he goes. History: (one of the things the players, always unable to apprehend him, never learned) Karl Timken was a bright young man and a hard worker, dedicated to making the most he could of his life. He put himself through school with a variety of jobs, including special effects man for a movie company, demolition for a construction company, and eventually even as a lab assistant in his chosen field of chemical physics. All his life, he had been obsessed with Supers [our campaign world has supers appearing around 1880, becomming more common and more powerful around WW2], studying their adventures and subscribing-- even freelance writing for-- all the fanzines. He felt that it was wonderful, having such powerful men and women dedicated to helping others. That was what he wanted to do-- help others. Unbeknownst to even himself, what he _really_ wanted to do was help others with his super powers. Karl desperately wanted super-powers. A deep analysis of him personality might have lead to the conclusion that he sought a carrer in chemical physics for the one-in-a-billion chance that some bizzare lab accident might bequeath him the powers he dreamed of. For being a bright, hard-working, dedicated young man was, for all his success, still just ordinary. Then something sent him over the edge. While in a doctor's waiting room, he was thumbing through a fanzine that professed to have gotten a copy of government test results from experiments done on the Martin Power, the Indestructable Man. [which was true and accurate]. Martin Power, one of the most poweful supers ever born-- a man who spent his entire life hating being more than normal, and who would steadfastly refuse to use his powers without the utmost coercion-- was found to have absolutely no super powers whatsoever. The man who had held together the Stony Marshall Suspension Bridge during an earthquake, who had defelcted howitzer shells with his chest, who had walked across the bottom of the ocean after falling from a ship during battle [Power couldn't swim] and dragged himself ashore in England [he had a bad sense of direction, too] was found to have absolutely no super abilities whatsoever. So the man who never wanted any powers, let alone the ones he had, in fact did not have any. Except that he did. This pushed Karl over the edge. It was at this point-- the point where a he, a man who would have been thrilled to have even 1/10 the power of any other super, learned that the world's strongest (and only indestructable) man hated having his powers and was trying desperately to get rid of them-- that he hatched his plan. Something in Karl cracked just a little bit that day. Karl threw himself into research, learning-- even expanding on-- many fields of science, and became a leading authority on several branches of physics and biology. He was hoping to find some key pattern that meant the super-powers he craved. And he failed miserably. He built several new suits of powered armor, but sold them to various governments. Gadgets, he felt, were simply not powers. He resignedly accepted that he would never have powers, and never be a super hero. Whatever it was that cracked that day at the doctor's office fell completely apart, and Karl was quietly commited. He spent four years in a home, and another four in twice-weekly therapy. Eventually, he was pronounced 'all better' and discharged from treatment. Karl was 'all better,' and it was because he had a new plan. Could he not get the respect of the other supers if he had powers himself? Would the supers know if his powers were real, or elaborate hoaxes? Surely he could find a way, with his vast knowledge, to 'fake' super powers..... Through much experimentation, Karl finally acknowledged that short of obvious gadgets (which, to his mind, would give him away as a talented inventor, but _not_ a super), there was no way to fake super powers outside of a completely controlled environment. And it was hard to rescue someone from a burning building if you had to have your powers pre-staged. Even harder to save a crippled jetliner from crashing. But it wasn't too hard to set-up a crime..... In fact, all the best crimes involved lots and lots of advanced work, right? So Karl set out to choose a balance between powers that he could fake flawlessly and were still spectacular enough to draw the attention he craved. He would soon show the world that he could defeat any super! And when that day came, maybe then he would unmask himself and show the world that supers were no match for a mere mortal..... Powers _really_: (the rest of the stuff the players never knew, but could have probably learned if it had occured to them to check) Karl has no super powers outside his amazing intelligence and his ability to apply himself fully and immediately to any field of study. All of his 'powers' are faked. They are simply lots and lots and lots of pre-planted bombs (made of a substance of his own devising that leaves almost no traces of itself) that are placed near or on as many large-ish objects as he can arrange. Often, the object itself is a forgery made completely out of the explosive chemical with a tiny reciever and charge in the center. [i tried to drop a hint at this to the players after TNT's fourth appearance in the campaign. There was a fire next to a Western Union that TNT had robbed the week before. Several firemen were badly injured when the hydrant they were trying to attach a hose to exploded. Oddly, this was something the PC's ignored. More's the fun, I suppose!] TNT will spend days-- even months-- visiting the 'scene of the crime' in various disguises, setting his 'props.' He always has four or five scenes ready, and a dozen more being worked on. When he is ready to use a scene, he will build a media draw very near where he is going to strike (set a fire, phone an anymous tip, or even use some of his ill-gotten loot to create a small award ceremony or just pay two gangs to fight each other. He prefers something 'nice and good,' as the market share for such things will be shocked by the abrupt 'change in programming.' If possible, he will even arrange his 'job' so that the supers will be approaching as he is ready to depart. TNT will not blow all of his bombs without good reason, and that reason is usually escape. As his compound is the most stable explosive on earth ]and why I couldn't justify another accidental explosion clue], he doesn't worry about leaving them around. All the bombs are keyed to a small transmitter in his costume, and he will return to the scene in disguise after it 'cools off' to deactivate any remaining bombs so that they will not 'get wasted' by stray signals. His jobs are _very_ meticulously planned [i had to give him a few tactics and crime skills to justify this], as is his escape. He never has less than four possible escape routes, and all of them will be nearby, yet cleverly camoflagued enough to give the illusion that he has simply vanished. He has claimed to the press that his powers give him the ability to unlock the potentional kinetic energy stored in matter, and that by disolving the bonds of his own body he can travel on the wind at will. He goes to great lengths to support these claims. [one more note: As I said, I actually gave players hints that this character was intended to be a throw-away diversion, and did my best to get them to understand that he was extremely simple to take out barring his tactic for distance-keeping (a good move-through would drop him, and he knew it). I even had one of his escape routes-- the one he ended up having to use! being no more than a concealment roll! It was a fake brick wall that covered an alcove in an alley. He hid behind it for ten hours to ensure that the 'coast was clear.' One of the PCs even had both IR vision and Tracking Scent and never even considered using it! She simply announced "Oh man! He Teleports, too!" ] I don't know if there's any inspiration there or not, but he can be a lot of fun! Duke

Re: I could watch him get slapped around all day Very true-- and a staggeringly effective trouncer of X-men he is indeed! Forgive me for not knowing much about comic books; I wasn't into them as a kid, and so I never got into them as an adult (I have been haunting this thread and others to learn more about them so as to better understand some of the conversations on this board), but this one I saw happen some years back. I was waiting to pick up my nephew from Scouts and he had left a comic book in my saddlebags. To pass the time, I read it. I don't remember what it was, but it was full of super-heroes and villains all packed into a dome on some planet for reasons I don't remember. I _do_ remember that some bad guy was having words with the X-men's leader (Doctor X?-- the guy in the wheelchair) and Spiderman overheard it and decided to warn the other heroes. All the X-men were there, and they all leapt into battle to stop him. I think the entire 'battle' lasted four panels. Spidey went through them like some kind of sweeping Move-By. He didn't even slow down, and all the Xes were sudued. Even if you never read comics, you just like Spiderman. It made me all warm and fuzzy. Duke

Re: Avlse

Re: How to do "Remote Zombie Eyeballs"? And with the Stretching, unless you add more and more Lims, there's no mechanic to prevent him from constantly re-orienting the eyball to change his field of vision. There is, however, a _very_ expensive limitation on his range!

Re: How much attention do you give to powers' Senses visibility rules? Heh heh heh heh--- just for the sake of discussion, I'm going to move to the other side of the line for a minute:

Re: Avlse

Re: New Power: Invulnerability I'm not going to take anything away from Trebuchet-- he's done a lot of work and come up with a solid, workable idea, _and_ he had the faith in it to put it out here for analysis and comment; much respect to you, T. But like Sean, I think that Prestidigitator has come up with a somewhat more elegant structure, and it has the added appeal of reading and functioning more like a counterpart / corollary to Takes No Stun. I don't know about requiring Defenses to be Resistant (though I certainly agree that, much like Takes No Stun, characters with Takes No Body should pay more for their protection). My issue with making them buy Resistant Def is simply that it is not a realistic price penalty; the character is getting more effective Def for the price. Resistant Defenses protect from KA Stun damage as well as Body. I'd be more inclined to simply impose a +1/2 or +1 (or whatever I ultimately find to be appropriate) cost penalty on the character's defenses across the board. While a lot of people have siezed on the 'absolute' angle of this power (and I have no argument with that; this _is_ very much an absolute. But it's one I'm willing to accept), I'd like to offer the idea that this power has less practical utility than does Takes No Stun. All this power really does is ensure that the character will one day return to adventure / menace again. Unlike an automaton-- or even a car!-- he will not be able to casually shrug off attacks and soldier on until he is destroyed. He can be Stunned, which means he can be subdued. A well-executed attack strategy may stop a small band of 'invulnerable' opponents far faster (and with less collateral damage) than a single automaton on a rampage. ----------------------------------- One aspect I'd like to see, either in the 'base' rules for the power, or as a Limitation of some sort, is the option of being badly hurt-- hurt beyond the comprehension of non-invulnerables. No, I'm not a sadist, but I don't think that this power should be too 'gimme,' at least not until it becomes cosmically priced (like Sean's suggested 120 pts a few posts back). Suppose that this power ultimately means simply that the character can't be killed, period. (I know my posts are long, and I hope that as I better learn board culture I can curb that, but please; bear with me. I think this will make the suggested prices more agreeable to many who are against the constuct) Suppose that the player is required to track Body damage (this idea will work better with the suggested "Invulnerbility" than the "Takes No Body", though it may make a great Limitation for TNB) as normal. And the 0-Body and Negative Body rules are still in effect, with the singular exception that the character will not die. Possibly even the character will not suffer Bleeding damage, etc, but decidedly he will not die. This allows the character to know the humility of 'mere mortals' and perhaps not be anywhere near as unbalancing as some opponents of the construct fear. (Call it a -1 or -2 Limitation. I'm thinking -2 personally) With this option, the character could concievably be reduced to -50(starting BODY) or worse. Obviously he's down for the count, and will remain there until he heals up naturally. It could be weeks, or months. But he won't die. I recommend this option simply because it was part of the early concept for the brick I discussed some pages back. (eventually he exp pt'ed out of that). With this option, the character simply can't be killed, but he can certainly be hurt very, very badly-- possibly be effectively removed from a campaign if he were the epicenter of a meteor strike or something..... Trebuchet and Prestidigitator--- Great ideas, both of you! I'd rep you both for this great idea, but I've got to spread it a bit according to the box! Duke