Jump to content

Duke Bushido

HERO Member
  • Posts

    8,338
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    90

Everything posted by Duke Bushido

  1. Sorry, Chris: I am all out of rep for the day. Still: One-hundred-percent agreed.
  2. Well, this might be amusing- most likely to Chris Goodwin, as he actually knows what I look like. a brief synopsis: I am not a giant. I have mentioned before that I am the shortest of alll my siblings. As I said: not a giant. I am still a big guy, though- at least in my age group (62. Most people my age are smaller than me). I stand six-foot-even after the spine crushing and surgeries. I was once just shy of 6-2 (and was tied with my shortest sister for shortest of the siblings. I would love to say that I still weigh 260 and wear 36" waist, but age has crept up on me; you will have to add 12 to 16 pounds of belly to that these days, and sometimes two inches of waist band to accommodate it at its worst. I have mentioned before that I have a beard- not because I have always wanted one, but because it grows so fast that I haven't been able to pull off "clean shaven" since I was twelve or thirteen (this runs on one side of the family: my son is named for my favorite uncle, who had it worse than I do). For the past thirty years, with a brand new set of razors and a whole can of cream, the best I can pull off is "not horribly scruffy." (If I get dirty, that's out the window, however). so I have a beard soley because I have never had a burning desire to shave three times a day, and can't recall any jobs offering "shave breaks." For what it is worth, having held a couple of jobs that required clean-shaves, I can attest that it is possible to learn to not be bothered by dry shaving. now, I _love_ Christmas, and I _love_ kids. Had it been in the cards for us, I would have had six or seven- or, as I told my wife when we were dating: "four girls and ever-how-many boys it takes to get there," to which she replied "bigamy it is, then." (And No; it isn't. There isn't anyone else I have been interested in since we met twenty-some years ago.) on the first of October, I stop trimming the beard. This is so that by December, I have a nice full Santa-like beard. When we go to outdoor events or out Christmas shopping, I powder it white and pop on a Santa hat and I love seeing all the littlest kids light up and turn to their mothers "Mommy! Mommy; I saw _Santa_!" They are always so excited. and generally I cut it back to "normal" the first Saturday I have off in January. Now our winter shutdown this year was the week between Christmas weekend and New Year's weekend, and we had that polar vortex thing going on, so I had already told the wife that the time off, the weather, and my getting the Valk back on the road combined to mean only one thing: I was going camping! Were I able to access the site on the computer with a proper keyboard, I would elaborate in great detail as to all the various "why's," but let it suffice to say that I _love_ to camp in freezing weather, and just trust that there many, many reasons for this. Monday morning around 4 AM, I loaded my gear on the fat lady, suited up in my few remaining articles of clothing from my youth (most have worn away over the decades, having been,pressed into service as work gear, but I still have a couple of coats like you simply cannot find in this part of the country). The thermometer on the porch said eight degrees; I grinned and warmed up the bike, then headed a gew hours north to Lake Oconnee. I hadn't seen the lake in nearly fifteen years, and I kept hearing about how it was drying up, and I wanted to see that for myself, so that was the first stop. Had a great ride, a great sleep in an icy tent, and got to satisfy my curiosity about the lake. Yep: water demand and increasingly-decreasing annual rainfall are drying the lake up (it is a manmade reservoir from before my time). Weirdly, there are all kinds of local bans on washing your car or watering your yard, but there are roughly two-dozen automated car washes just in the areas around town in which I rode, all of them open for business. The phone told me around noon that it was 42 degrees, and I had already passed four banks and several restaurants with sprinklers running- in December, during our very tiny "freezin' season." Evidently the local citizenry here has to endure restrictions on water usage to make sure the corporations can waste as much as they want. but this isn't that story, so... I broke camp before noon and headed to Helen, which if you haven't been, is just beautiful, and is sort of Georgia's "Motorcycle Mecca." Same as before: lots of great miles and gorgeous scenery and scents, and the best sleep I have had in a year. about mid-morning, I broke camp and meandered vaguely southward- I wanted to be home before anyone woke up Thursday morning, and i had spent too much time at the Lake. I ended up deciding to stay at a state park in Crawfordville. Now I was _going_ to stay at another place about forty-five minutes further toward home, but I passed a sign that made me do a double-take and eventually pull a U-turn. I have mentioned before that my day job includes, amongst a lot of other things, commodoties buying. That includes lumber. I had just driven past quite possibly the smallest lumber yard and treatment facility I have ever seen, and it bore the name of a company who has in the last three years become my single biggest source of treated 2x6. I was a bit confused, but then I thought "well, either it's them or it isn't, and either way it wont hurt anyone if I end up wishing total strangers a Happy New Year, so..." I spun the bike around, doubled back to the entrance, and sure enough, I recognized two of the trucks parked around the place. I circled the place a couple of times looking for somewhere to park that wasn't in a truck or forklift path, found one that seemed good, and got off the bike. I need to point out that at this time, it was 38 degrees, and I had been intentionally running narrow shady back roads (for several reasons, the least of which was to avoid sweating at less-than-highway speeds. Withiut highway speeds, the wind chill wasn't sufficient enough to cool me in my gear, yet it was sufficient enough to prevent me from removing it. Those from colder climes know what happens when you sweat inside your clothes in cold weather). and this is why I described me. Now as to my gear: I have an old racing jacket that _looks_ like an old denim jacket. It isn't, but it is fabric and dyed to look like denim. Not only is it full of racing pads along shoulders, elbows, chest, obliques, and spine, it is also rated for 10 degrees below zero-- but is not wind rated. It _does_ stop wind at lower speed, but get over thirty-five or so, and it gets airish... to combat this, I have a forty-some year old Drover's coat. This is the sort of coat that high school kids mistake for a trnchcoat and Hollywood mistakes (constantly) for period-accurate cowboy wear (and accordingly, now most of America does, too.) This style of coat is actually Australian in origination. this one is _heavy_ leather. I know most everyone with a leather greatcoat of any kind swears theirs is heavy, but let me elaborate: This is not sheep or goatskin, nor is it split leather. It _is_ soft, but that is more because of forty years of keeping it conditioned and oiled. This coat is 3.8 mil full-grain leather. It is rated for heavy winds (I do not remember the rating-- I _think_ 60mph?--, but I can tell you that it gets a bit flappy and tuggy as you near 80 mph on the bike), and between the thickness of leather and the lining, it is rated to keep you snug at down to 50 below. This is why I take such good care of it: you can't find that kind of rating within twelve hours of where I live. Further, synthetics coming as far as they have the last thirty years, I doubt anyone still makes a coat like this. My brother Jayson refers to it as "my leather onesie" (in spite of him owning the exact same coat) because of how you have to put it on (set the leg and ankle straps. Then slide it up your legs and,over your shoulders, all at once) to ensure that it falls and stays where it should be when riding. My wife refers to it as her leather blanket, because when she is restless, she has been known to dig it out of the closet, put it on the bed, and sleep under it for the comfort of the weight (just a tiny bit under twenty-two pound). The biggest thing to stress is that this is _not_ a fashionable or even attractive coat to most people (I mean, it looks warm and windproof to me, but that is not what everyone is interested in, I suppose). It fastens all the way up to the chin and hangs to the ankles and looks like nothing so much as a brown leather sleeping bag with sleeves. I am a big-ish guy. I am wearing a warm and heavily-padded coat under an even larger coat. There is little humidity, so I am having a _great_ hair day, beard-wise. It has spread out shoulder-to-shoulder and halfway down my breastbone. Most of my face is hidden by it. I have my felt-and-wool do-rag pulled right to the top of my sunglasses to prevent wind-induced brain-freeze in this weather (I am claustrophobic, and find it difficult to wear a full-face helmet more than a few minutes). I am wearing sub-zero gauntlets that look like high-end welder's gloves. I have my cane in a soft-scabbard I had made shortly after learning how to walk again (sometimes, especially if I have to sit still for too long, my back siezes, or settles onto one or both sciatic nerves-- anyway, if I over-do it or greatly under-do it, I need the cane to walk with. Because grabbing a hook-handle cane over my shoulder is a nuisance, I had selected one with hollow,brass and mother-of-pearl ball of a handle, and it just caps off the sheath without any indication of what it actually is. The most important part of All of this, however, is that I am not self-aware enough to realize that this is what I look like. I am still riding high on the weather, the camping, and being all cozy in my nice warm gear. I go inside. There is a woman speaking into a phone, and I recognize her voice as my sales person, J. She sees me and puts her hand over the phone and cals "B! B, can you come up front, please! B!" She turns back to the phone, writes furiously on a notepad and says "okay, I have got it; I will call you back in a few minutes-- B, I need you up here!" She almost screams. I figure "okay, she's busy, and she thinks I am customer, so she is calling another sales guy" because.. Well, let's be perfectly honest: I have spent a liferime perfecting the art of forgetting just how cussed ugly I am. B comes darting in from a side door, and J looks relieved. She glances at me, then at B, and I swear I could see her eyes _push_ his gaze toward me. He steps a bit to his left to out himself between me,and J. I am still clueless. They appear to be done communicating, so I step forward. B asks me firmly "is there something I can help you with, Sir?" "Not really; I just hapened to find you guys out here in the middle of nowhere and this seemed like a great opportunity!" (again: I am not a clever man) "Sir?!" He says, almost a challenge. "To wish you a Happy New Year. I extend a hand. "My name is Duke Oliver; I am the lumber buyer for XYZ company." "Woooo!! Oh, praise _GOD_!" J blows out in the loudest sigh of relief I have ever heard, throwing her hands in the air. She deflates and slides deep down into her chair, "I thought we were getting robbed..." So, you know.... That went well. Eventually.
  3. Yep. Iron Array predates AD&D, though I understand there are people that still use it, if pared down for the more modern versions. Honestly, when I first bumped into it, it was with a bunch of GIs from the local (then) military base, and you had to pick class and race before rolling. The rolls went to the characteristics in the order they were listed,on the sheet / on the book. Even in later years, when class and race options became so numerous as to be pointless, if you were playing Iron Array and failed to qualify for your class, the GM either ruled that you got into your class by luck, when you generally sucked at everything in your class, since the more exotic the class, the more it required certain stats to get in, and the more of the the geatures of that class _relied_ on those requires stats, etc, etc, etc. The other option was "well, you can always be a thief." I have met two GMs (who I assume knew each other at some point, as they both had the same unique solution: If you failed to get into your class. Roll 1d4 to determine if you were Fighter, Magic User, Cleric, or Thief. No special classes, no special bonuses or stunts: just a bare-bones one-of-the-originals class. Can't lie: while I am not a D and D fan, I always kind of liked Iron Array; it made character creation feel more like Traveller: didn't qualify for your dream job? Well, there is always "Other." No good? You're in luck! The Draft Boaed is calling right now! Almost forgot: I have seen a small handful of Iron Array DMs who played that if your character disnt qualify for his chosen class, he defaulted to Barbarian. I never did like that idea, and I kind of like barbarians.
  4. Slightly less japanese and he can be a fox-like demon, providing the opportunity for a fire_based damage shield.
  5. As I am seeing it, the power OP is proposing is just putting all of his fixed locations into the "good to go" category Hugh paraphrased above. He has to buy those locations anyway, and the Clairsentience will cost him as much or more than the PSLs he would need to offset the penalties of the other categories Hugh has listed above (based on the assumption that an extremely high number of PSLs would lower the limitation value of targeting the hex versus the cost of the Clairsentience.) In the end, the SFX of peering into the location is interesting, and may even allow an occasional ambush. I don't see anything here providing any special benefits at a cut-rate price; I don't see anything here robbing the player of value for the points spent, and I don't see anything here that will unduly disrupt a game. Frankly, telepathy as-is would cause more issues than this. OP: I am neither an official nor am I particulalrly intelligent, and I know diddly/squat about 6e, but if it is worth anything to you, you have my blessing. I might have to add this to the 4e Cheshire Cat (one of the four or five published villains I actually use).
  6. Scott's thinking: something unusual for a brick to have or do. Ah! My apologies. It means two. I dont know- bifurcated spine or something. Understood. I don't often think "super powers" and "natural," but as noted numerous times, I have next to no comic book exprience. Probably why so many of my supers are aliens or tech- oriented or "super-serum" types. Is he a cat?!
  7. I like Scott's thinking: something unecpected for a brick: how about acrobatics and a pair of prehensile tails? (I will be quite now)
  8. Pulp adventure, as this is clearly an entrance to inner earth. Somewhere in there, is a safe route to travel.
  9. Own it, but haven't read it yet. Hope to find time, but honestly, I have so little "me time" anymore that I spend most of it doing physical things to recharge (no; I cant explain that. My wife calls it "extrovert resting.") Maybe soon.
  10. I am at something of a loss after reading the directions. Are we to contribute text- names, elements of background or origin-? Are we to contribute singular abilities aka "plus 25 STR" or "his DEX 18!" or "tracking scent!"- ? Are we to contribute individual elements of his origin: "and the sledge hammer blow knocked him from the roof and into..... Your turn!" -? Are we to contribute bits of his costume: full sleeves, but each ia a different color!- ? Or literally build the villain? Up front: I will be abstaining because of the request to not drop a fully-formed character with details, etc. Please don't misunderstand: I respect that request, but my creative process doesn't work that way: as soon as I have one piece of a character, I have the character in minutiae. Therefore, I will be following along, but not participating. It is simply that I am nit sure what you are looking for. At the moment, all I can think is "Legs! He should have at least two!" (And Yes; just saying that gave me a complete character: The Racer. He is a brick / speedster with stretching (no fine manipulation), physical limitations based on size and mass, lots of leaping, and specific skill levels for combat maneuvers (that's martial arts to the rest of you guys). He has one leg: he is a centaur-sized snake man, resulting from a horrific experiment with genetics performed by a deranged scientist with the backing of a banana republic dictator, and currently I am thinking of the fictional nation in which Scott's DI campaigns occurred. I could go on, because it is all there, just like that. I won't because that is not why we are here, but it is a great example od why I am setting this one out. Still, a little help on what it is you are looking for?
  11. That is my error. I typed 5e, and the whole time I was thinking of 6e and the "Exp" rebranding. Thanks for catching it. All the confusion over and specific distaste for the pointless re-invention still stand, however. I dont think I mentioned Foxbat. Someone had mentioned finding write-ups for Leroy. The First write up is possibly the least expensive to acquire and hadn't been mentioned. I mentioned art because if they haven't seen a write-up, they haven't seen art either: the brief appearances in Champions II are rushed, poor, and not very helpful for presenting him to players who have no idea what he looks like. Honestly, the art for EXO is smallish, crowded, and isn't terribly helpful, either. I will have to re-read them, but I recall being disappointed that Leroy wasn't a big part of either of them. (For what it is worrh, "for president" takes nothing more that a single character swap and possibly four on-the-fly minor tweaks to become the solid and more serious sort of adventure you might enjoy. Still, ir's better if you swap in FB for another villain). Sure, GMs and authors have their favorite characters, and their personal views of how certain characters would act, interact, and organize, etc, and they will use the characters that appeal to them the most. For me, I can't see FB attracting a group of competent hangers-on, particularly not such a large one. FB and Leroy are "Team Foxbat" for me, with Charlie as a periodic pop-up from the past with an "if I don't help this idiot this one time, he's going to get himself killed" type attitude. I don"t use him often, and when I do, he isn't generally "silly," either. He clearly has psychological problems and issues with reality (paranoia is a huge one), and suffers from schizophrenia -- but that "thinks he is in a comic book" and fourth-wall nonsense? No. I can't stomach it, either. I _am_, however, the biggest fan of Leroy I have ever encountered. I treat Leroy as a low-intellect but highly-competent villain. He can _almost_ see the big picture, but not enough to prepare for everything, or to realize that the flashes of brilliance he sees in the lunatic rantings of FB aren't the signs of a lunatic savant that he believes them be, but the dumb luck of the Simpsons predicting the future. He stays with FB because he _is_ the former street tough gang kid his origin claimed, and again- he is _not_ stupid, but he isn't quite sharp enough to understand that the street mentality of loyalty without question only traps him in a cycle of failure. Additionally, FB has unlocked in him- via his constant indulgences in his own delusions, a streak of carefree joy that has brought him the first real "fun" he has hs since childhood: attackinf a group of agents? He might wear a tux under his exoskeleton and refer to all the agents as "Mr. Bond" during the battle. No; he is not crazy. He is just having fun, and he finds that he is only comfortable enough to give in to these carefree moments when he is partnered up with FB. Now I _did_ say he is competent. As menrioned above, I don't,use FB a lot- usually when a need a quick takedown to give me time to reorganize something the players have taken _way_ off the rails, or I want to needle a player a bit (Captain Fortitude, FB has decided he likes your style, and wants to learn from you. As you are on patrol, you notice he is following you, in costume, with a domino mask over his mask, and referring to himself as Valor Boy. He's fresh out of prison, and has no warrants- yet. It's going to be a long night....) Leroy, however, gets used pretty regularly. Sometimes,he's hired muscle (canonically, hanging out with Foxbat is a dead-end as a long-term investment, and he knows that; he stays for other reasons), ans sometimes he himself,is the mastermind of a smaller crime- breaking into a well-gaurded research facility and stealling the plans and prototype of the super-power removal device- or, as he is no dummy (just not super-villain-level smart), finding it eaiser to steal,it from the guys who stole it last week.... Arranging a sale, etc, etc. Honestly, in my,own universe, if it wasnt for Leroy's loyalty, FB would have starved to death years ago. In my game, Leroy is a competent villain with 2d6 of unlucky to represent an oversight or shortfall in his planning-- roll unlucky, results suggest an alarm that he did not notice when casing the place went off, etc, etc. Sorry this drifted: I am,simply saying that one does not have to like FB _at all_ to see that Leroy is one of the greatest entry-level / vs new Players villains ever written officially: he isn't just a brick, he dreams bigger than "knock off a liquor store," he is a competent fighter-- he is "big time," but he has an inherent flaw that prevents him from reaching the level of wiping out an entire super team of even novice heroes. _That_ is what he hopes to gleen from FB (who, in my games, has pulled it off now and again, but almost exclusively via the dice) during one of his "flashes of brilliance." (That being 2d6 Luck, which is played as "this was something he had planned for and put X in place just in case") I will beg out for a bit and let you fine folks continue discussing all the myriad other characters inferior to Leroy in every way. ( )
  12. Yep. I was camping suring one earlier this week. Best sleep I have had in years.
  13. Leroy's first write-up was Adventurers Club #1, if I recall correctly. LL is xorrecr that there is a 4e write-up of him. There is a 5e write-up, sort of. For reasons we will never know (Steve is pretty up front about discussing his reasons) and I will never appreciate (Leroy is one of a very few published NPCs that I actually kind of like), the Exoskeleton Man in one of the 5e villains book is totally unrelated to Foxbat and is _not_ Leroy. We have a vauguely standsrsized bas guy origin and an attempt to make him a bit "harder edged," but it just xomes off as kind of silly, since it _is_ the Awesome Exoskeleton Man , just unnecesarily reimagined in a way that adds nothing and improves nothing. The best portrait of Leroy, I think, was the one in Adventurers Club (though it was a bit smallish); the sexond best are in the old Champions comics where he gies by the name Cybernotron.
  14. Yeah, I smoked it over a little more closely today on my break, and I just can't come up with any serious reason to shoot this down, assuming I trusted the player not to look for ways to abuse it excessively. There are a,dew ways to get a similar result- some,mentioned by other peoole up thread, but it is not the same result, and none of it is as clean as what Vlad is proposing. I am cool with it personally, but feel free to continue discussing it.
  15. Most of us, most certainly. Steriaca beat me to it, but do you remember where I said tmiur world was first populated by character origins and hunted disadvantages? Lirby Koo is the same thing happening in the official universe, way back from the first and sexond editions: he was some sort of bad guy who created super villains. Until Tiger up above wrote him up in one of his publications, there was no trace of him other than his name popping up in various origins.
  16. Sorry: bad eyes, small screen, retarded auto correct, it ahould have read ;"how you see this working." From your example, I would give it a probationary approval at the very worst. I have no doubt that given a few minutes, either of us could concoct a potential cirner case where it might be slightly abusive, but even thinking about it, the worst you can do here is ruin an ambush, and Danger Sense can do that, so.... Yeah. I have no problem with this, personally, and would allow it for most od my players (I have a xouole that take it as a challemge to really twist advantage (reas: abuse) out of unusual constructs, and that is where this lies: I would make the final dexisiin based in my faith in the player, and probationary approval to a player with whom I wasnt tereibly familiar. I like it, personally.
  17. First blush, it seems reasonable to me, too. Can I trouble you for a typical,example,of,how you see this world, just to confirm we are on the same page? Thanks!
  18. Hey- son't let go of somerhinf that brings you happiness. I'm even if it is just fond memories. https://i.imgur.com/jVbkgyZ.jpg I don't.
  19. Your call, of course, but no too long ago, I did am informal pill in the subject, and the comments were quite enlightening. It may help you decide what is right for you. I had intended to link it, but using the search function on this phone is beyond infuriating. If I remember correctly, it was titled "it's all about location." (Weirdly, it popped right up a week or so ago while I was searching for something completely unrelated.) That is my preference as well, but we explained our personal thoughts in the above-mentioned thread. Gonna level with you: even though (and I really can't say that there is no chance that it might be because of) the Silver Age Sentinels setting / universe is far less developed than the Champions universe, there is no part of it that I don't like far more than any of the published Champions settings from any edition. I tend to fell the same,way about the "title characters" of SAS and Champions as well. Now that is not to say that I _dislike_ the published Champions stuff (except the 4e "title character" Champions roster). That is what had me a little stoked about your "use everyrhing from everywhere" setting idea: sweet! Dump Destroyer; replace with Kruzriter (yeah; I know that is spelled wrong. After a full minute, it is what autocorrect and I came to agree on), and other such swaps. That's really up to you, but ultimately: why? Why does a city have to be replaced? You can have New York and Hudson City. I wont get too deep into all that, because there is no right or wrong there; you are building a world, and the only way it will be right is if it is built the way you want it. Let Vibora Bay replace New Dehli if you want. Just as an example: My supers setting is Campaign City. We have been gaming in Campaign City since the first edition. It is located on the shores of Lake Campaign (you have to understand it was named after a long-running joke), one of the Great Lakes. So let's do some simple math: 2022 minus 1980 is forty-two years of never once having been asked by any player which Great Lake was replaced, or if this is a new one, of it CC was replacing Chicago- I havent ever even,been asked if we were Americans or Canadians. Not one time. I know a lot of people just arent happy withiut a fully-mapped city. I have never been asked to map out more rhan a small neighborhood, ever. With the advent of getting online in the 90s, I have image grabbed sections of more cities than I have ever been asked to use. No one has ever cared that most of the larger maps (that is, the higher ariel views that were packed with roads) couldnt possibly fit together into a cohesive city. Why? I have never had a group care to know more than what was around them at the moment, and where they were in relation to regular landmarks (you are about a dozen blocks from the college, and four miles South of the museum. A couple of blocks the financial district over here (makes vague circle,on battle map) and you'll be in the high-rent part of the waterfront). All they ever really want to know is how much are to canvass, how fast they can fly, how much running room they have, and how far can they spread a battle. So long as I can provide them these details on command, they have never once wanted or even shown interest in a road map of Campaign County or even just the city or even a single district within it.) The only recurring "road map" anyone has ever insisted on was Daedelus Park, to include _some,of the roads around it and that part of the financial district into which Tree grows. Now, all that being said, let me also say this: You are getring some solid world building advice above. Everyone is making great points, especially if you are putting together something for publication. It is rock solid advice. I have never, in any game or genre, done any of it. Sure, early on, I though I _had- to so all this work: vreating Gods and religions and economies and the patterns of global trade and multi-layered political maneuvering- And it disnt take very long to figure out that the players straight up _do not care_. They want to know about the look and feel of the world, the tone of the campaign, there particular power level, and hoe it compares to Joe Onthestreet and how it compares to the most powerful person in your campaign world. Seriously: they dont care how many NPC supers arw out there beyond "they are pretty rare" or "it's not uncommon: it seems,every big city has four or five heroes and a couple dozen villains", and a way to subjectively determine their current power level. Campaign City grew initially from "you guys are in a big city- like a major metropolis, giant buildings New York style. There are dive costumed,figures flying at you." Seriously. That is how it started. We read the rules, we wanted to play _right now_ and the GM had _nothing_. We had all,just met over the previous two or three weeks as he was trying to recruit a group. "Okay; do we know them?" Yes; they are famous supervillains. What do they want? From the eye lasers and fire blasts, I think they want to attack you! Okay. We need to get a plan! Find cover! Where are we? In a building? You're in a graveyard. It, uh, got a lot worse from there. But even after that, when the GM showed up with his notes... We wanyed to pick up from where we left off. That is also why Daedalus Park has a graveyard in it to this day. Our hunteds and huntings and rivalries and origin stories provided the earliest population. Businesses and organizations and foundations appeared as we needed them- well, as we needed something _like_ them: Okay, the crimemobile is orerrt busted up. Is there like some place we can ger ir fixed up quick and quiet? Well, there's Bender's Fender. Quickest turn around anywhere in town, accorsinf to the radio. Great! Can he fix an experimental alcohol jet propulsion engine? Well, mostly he does body work, but he might know a guy.... That kind of thing. If you let them, your players will build a wonderful playground for you: one that focuses on the needs, interests, and desires of the setting in which they want to play. Look at the source material: every single super hero has fifty or more supervillains. If there are forty superheroes all acting out of New York, an9 each of them has fifty or sixty unique supervillains, and then there are world-class or galaxy class superheroes _from_ New York, but nit necesarily operating there, and each of them has fifty unique villains..... That is a buttload of super people floating around New York City. I dint mean in terms of population perxentage (which I have also never been asked about with any more interest than "are powers common or not?"-- which was answered with "powers arent common, but they arent particulalry unusual, either. _useful_ powers are quite in common, and really powerful levels are very unusual. Finsinf a combination of strong, useful powers and courage to use them in bokd and public ways makes super heroes and costumed villains rather rare, though." I was never asked for more specifics that that, and every so often, players encounter a background NPC with some minor ability: a bartender that can grab your mug and re-chill your drink; an ironworker who welds using his own natural ability to create a reliable electric arc; a waitress whose clairsentience lets her check on her customers while seating a new table, a cleaning service stagged entirely by low-level speedsters, and everyone's favorite: a stuntman whose only power is the ability to survive a fall from any height. (He has gone over Niagara falls nine times so far-- without a barrel). It isnt something I ever thiught about when our first GM left and I took over- the minor powers- and I never would have no matter how long a document I might have prepared, but once I was asked about powers, it seemd so obvious... Honestly, I dont think the density or xommonality of xostumed adventurers ever really mattered: Marvel's New York City should house a few thousand super-powered individuals, but somehow, it never seems to matter. Iron Man never swings through and repulsive blasts the guy Daredevil is trying to beat with a stick and offers a quick "yeah, you're welcome, DD!" and then flies off on his way to an alien invasion threat. Doctor Strange never squares up with the Kingpin. The only time all these thiusands of supers matter _at all_ to each other when it is scripted that they shoukd work together, then never see each other ever again, unless Marvel revives Two-in-One, in which case the Thing is going to have his danve card filled. Why? Bevause the while point of Two-in-One was teaming up other supers with the Thing, period. By the source material, there are always more heroes or villains than will ever make sense, and they will never show up unless they are absolutely supposed to. So what difference is their density in ther world, the vast majority of which your players and their characters will never trod? Now I make no secret of the fact that I dont sweat nearly the detaila that most people do when "world building." Mostly because not only do I remember the experience of Lars, but the one winter I forgot it and in my hubris crafted a fantasy campaign that my players demanded, begged for- something new and different and unkike anything that we have aeen before--! And I soent a winter crafting such a world, and such a campaign, and a number of smaller enctiunters to impress the flavilor of rhis world- And they _hated_ it. What they claimed to want and what they actually wanted were two different things. They claimed they wanted something new and truly exotic when all they really wanted was YATRO except all weapons were akin to the Stands from JoJo' Bizarre Adventure (an arcade fighter that was pretty hot at that moment). So there you have it: the two sides od the coin: absolute excellent World-building advice that I will,never tell you is anything but good advice, and how it blew completely,up,in thw GM' face on both of the only two occasions I have ever seen it fully implemented. For my money, I rhink Chris Goodwin hits an absolute sweet spot that any GM shoukd strive for: I have never read any of his campaign idea documents that went more,than ten pages, and several that dont go to ten. He sketches vaguely the feel of the world, polotivs and religion as,any character in the world would be passignly familiar, bouse rules as appropriate, character guidelines, and a few,things that make,rhis world unique. All of it is done with broad strokes, making tweaking on the fly and adjusting for slowly-realized player desires almost effortless, and certainly inobvious to the players even as it happens. As a campaign platform document, I think it is absolutely brilliant, and I live reading them! Now I quoted Scott specificaly because, other than the need dor a well-mapped city, our ideas on Campaign building overlap more than they don't. Notice rhwt the bulk of his advice can be boiled down to "don't pin down every detail right away; your focus shohld be finding out what the players are interested in, and making sure you are amenable. Notice That even before you have built a world, he stresses making sure that you have players who are like-minded in working together to share a good time. Scott recommends literally interviewing potential players not just to see what they want, but with an eye toward what they offer the game, and the likelihood of trouble they may cause the game. More than what percentage of the Estonian people have super powers, this has importance. It dowsnt matyer what the average Damage Class of a main is if you have one player who must be begged to use it and another who wont stop using,it on his teammates. I also agree with this. If you have new-to-the-system players, I stress it. It is what I had to docdoecmy current youth group. Obviously, this allows the players to experience the game immediately and not have to stumble through character creation until they actually understand what these terms and ideas mean in game terms, but there is another benefit: you can build characters that compliment each others and that work well together. Ultimately, their first experiences with the games focus in teamwork and getting along. It ingrains the idea that this is a natural and essential part of the experience, and going forward, will likely continue to build future characters with an eye toward complementing the rest of the party. Agreed. I go a bit further and rwxommend that they have fifteen or even twenry points to spend. Why? Because by that time, they are really getting in the groove of the mechanics and their various interactions, and will likely know exactly what changes they want to make to the character, or what sort of a character they would prefer to have. At That time, work with them one-on-one, and answer every singke quesrion they have, no matter hiw tedious, and dont let them think that this is just as exciting for you as It is for them- any less may discourage questions go which they _need_ answers to ensure that they are getting the best gaming experience that they can. I could go on and,on, but I am pretty sure I have.
  20. Really? There is a crowd-funded Traveller version of Star Trek 5?
  21. Dude, I am stumped. My initial thoughts, like some of the folks above, is "only in hero ID." That is only,a -1/4 limitation on abilities bought that way, though, so after building the "normal guy," you have burned a hundred points on him, you are going to have to pick and choose the abilities of your super version carefully. There are additional limitations that work with the theme- possibly the spear is a focus for these powers (remember: if you don't buy it as a focus, then it is just a special effect of being in your super form), but then you have to decide the details of the focus (and there are several, getting more complex as the editions get newer; the value of the modifier varies greatly depending on the final build of the focus and how easy it is to be deprived of it and what other effects being deprived of has, and even if someone else can use it. Charges and time limits fit the concept: how many times a day or week can you become Super Warrior? How long can you remain in that form? Are there external things that can force you out of that form? (Some of these are just as likely to be Disadvantages / Complications, if they deprive you of your super form and not just certain powers. It depends on how you apply them.) A favorite of mine for the "super form" type build, especially with Only in HERO ID concepts, is that all "super form" abilities cost END (even those that ordinarily would not) and pull from a large END Reserve that can only be recharged by changing _out_ of super form. This is a nice limitation on the Recovery for the Reserve, and, depending on the size of the Reserve and the Recovery (for example, if they are both very small), can potentially boost the value of the Only in Hero ID, as your ability to remain in that ID becomes very dicey, and even the ability to assume that ID at any moment is questionable, as you are at the mercy of a slow recharge rate. Similarly, the value of OHID may be increases if you are only allowed to assume that form twice a day for one hour each time. As far as I remember, there is no exact discussion of either of these situations in _any_ of the rules, so before assuming that such builds automatically make OHID worth -1/2 or any value that isn't -1/4, you should first present your ideas and your thoughts on why these builds should affect the value of certain Limitations to your GM and get her thoughts as well, then work on the builds together. Remember that she has goals and guidelines for her campaign in mind, and ultimately, she may not allow any additional value for these builds, etc. Now remember _always_ when working with the GM that she may shoot down some of your builds, or individual pieces of them. Always ask for a reason (I love it when my players do this to me, because it makes me re-think my reasoning, and _sometimes_ it makes me realize I have made my decision bases on a personal conciet that has no real bearing on the game at hand-- it makes me a better GM, in a way). Don't let asking why lead to an argument! The goal her is to have the GM give her decision one last think-through, and for the player to learn a little bit about the GM's play style and thinking. Also remember that things like "I want to keep things a bit more simplified for the time being" or "for the game at hand" _are_ valid reasons: complex builds add additional bookkeeping, time-tracking, and other factors to the game that the GM may not want slowing things down (especially if she or some of the players are fairly new). You might hear something like "I can't tell you" or even just "I would rather not elaborate on that." I can't speak for every GM, but I can speak for me: If I can tell you why I shot it down, I very happily will tell you: it is best for us to be on the same page all the time, right? When I shoot down an idea and I won't tell you why, it is usually for one of three reasons: There is a better-than-good chance this build will step on the toes of another player or that player's concept for his character (though I can usually tell you this. Sometimes, though, a player requests a secret reveal in-game for some particular ability). There is a major part of the story or an important challenge that your proposal will turn into crepe paper. While it makes an amusing moment, few people are satisfied when an entire campaign- or even just a couple of adventures in the campaign- turn out to be complete cake walks. Expanding on this is the "critical scene." There is a scene already built into the adventure that must go a certain way-- I don't mean railroading, such as one character _must_ lose or _must_ win or that sort of thing-- more along the lines of "this battle must be difficult enough." Maybe there is something time-sensitive going on in the background that the characters are very much aware of, and a fifteen-minute fight builds tension over the time being lost to a slugfest. Perhaps it is vital to the roleplaying side that two particular characters pair up to face each other for some big reveal- I mean a _good_ reveal; none of that "Luke, I _am_ your father" crap. Perhaps a villain is actually a double-agent, or needs to beseech a particular hero for help without his allies being aware of it- who knows? It is quite possible you have suggested a build that makes it tactically ridiculous for that particular character to be squaring off with you. Sure; he can get in touch some other way; gamism, clues want to be found, and all that- but for role play, what may have been a pivotal dramatic moment cannot happen now. It is a short list, and there are a couple of other entries (such as "I have seen this get horribly out of hand before"), but all of my "no" and "I can't elaborate" replies all boil down to "I have a legitimate reason to believe that this build will deny you or another player from having fun." Remember that your GM is not your adversary. If she says no, even if she can't give you a reason, I promise she has one. Now, I started all of this because I said "I'm stumped." That is because she gave you two sheets. This implies that she wants you to make two separate characters. This may be a "simplicity's sake" kind of thing- she just wants to have clear definitions of what is in play at a given moment for your character, etc. In fact, multiple sheets is the standard for using the Power "Multiform." But then you leave us with no idea as to whether or not she said " use Multiform." That implies that she wants two characters in play. That is the standard for Summon. But you don't say that she said "use Summon," either. That means that you will have two characters, with two character's worth of skills and abilities (and actions) available all the time- one character can't just conveniently keep disappearing the moment the other conveniently appears (can they, Clark?!), so the only thing left is that some sort of GM fiat is at play so that one character vanishes and the other appears without any sort of game mechanic involved. I have _zero_ problems with this, personally, but it _does_ leave me stumped, because once we enter GM fiat country, there really isn't any way for us to know her line of thought, or make suggestions that are likely to gel with it. I am afraid that on this one, she is really _the_ person to whom you should be adressing your questions.
  22. So here we are, some years ago, during the (blessedly brief) resurgence of Cornhole- people making and selling custom boards and designer beanbags and me screaming internally "would you please stop calling it that?!" every few minutes because job #2 (the building supply yard) has a shop that cranks out Adirondack,chairs, patio swinga, picnic tables, and a few other things, and the owner decides to "catch the wave" (ie, capitalize on the trens immediately) and he puts the shop on cranking out designer boards for it. Now by tradition, as our storefront is dead in a strip of historical buildings, he volunteers us for every community thing, including the trick-or-treat for kids grade 4 and under. He geneeously donates our hard-earnes employee fund to buy a mountain of candy (bothersome only because he himself is a multimillionaire) and we take turns passing it out as the kids walk down the sidewalk and beyond our door. There is a "regular" trick or treat an hour or so after xloaong time doe rhe older kids, and the town makes a mini street festival out of it. We also have a small lumber warehouse that fronts onto this sidewalk, and every year we have to clear a big area of it so he can set up little party games for the younger children. On this particular year, he decides to set up a dozen or so of the boards so we could explain to parents "why yes; we do sell them here; of course we can do custom boards," and whatever else. It doesn't catch on with the little kids until he decides to wipe out the rest of the employee fund at the store across the block to buy prizes for the kiddies for "winning" this horribly-named game. The last straw was him standing by the door, chatting up parents with young kids and inviting them in so the kids could play games and win prizes. Granted, as this is a tradition, moat parents knew we had games and such set up, and several were sort od disappointed at the lack of our usuals, and at one point he replies "well this year, we thought we'd spend the evening cornholing with the little children, at which point I set my bucker of "prizes" on the sidewalk in front of him, looked at the five or six adults he was talking to and said "Oh, He'll no! We ain't doin' that, not now; not ever, and I am l am leaving bedore I have to hear anything that sounds remotely like that again!" I grabbed my helmet, walked out to the bike, and I _left_. Got in all kiinds of hot water about it, and I straight up didn't care. Finally, during the dressing down, I interrupted him and asked him "how many times dis you tell people we were cornholing with the little children?" "I dont know- there were three or dour dozen groups asking about the games-" Great! Let me tell you what it means. Then I told him, and he looked sick. Bad sick. "_And that_, Mr. boss, is why I left. I couldnt here that crap one more time. Wish I had never heard it the first time!" Fortunately, the corn hole reneisance ended just a few months later, as wierdly as it arrived. I have _nightmares_ about hearinf him say that. No: not a joke. There is nothing about that one sentence that doesnt make me physically ill.
  23. Well, crap. I totally got stumped,on the first one because I happen to know Madonna's surname.... (For anyone curious, her name is Madonna Loiuse Ciccone. I have never actually checked, but I believe Ciccone to be an Italian name, based on both the initial Ci and the double c being pronounce as tch.) (Oh- I has a friend with a huge crush on her back in the 80s; only reason I know this)
  24. Not gonna pretend I am not impressed: that goblin scenario is pretty sweet.
×
×
  • Create New...