Dr.Device

How did you come up with your 'handle' (forum name)? It's the name of one of the first superhero characters I came up with. Somehow I've never played a version in an actual Champions game, but I've played variations in City of Heroes and Champions Online What was the first tabletop RPG you played? AD&D, in my freshman year of highschool. What was the first tabletop RPG you GMed? AD&D, in college. What are you currently playing/GMing? Sadly, nothing currently. I've mostly just played Hero stuff (and variants) since the early nineties. I've mostly GMed the past twenty years or so. Campaigns I've run: The Knack: A group of people with "Knacks" (minor supernormal or paranormal abilities) are on the run from a billionaire who wants to explout them. Needle: A not particularly successful game set in the world of "The Peace War" by Vernor Vinge. The only game I ever ran that was based on a world not of my own creation, and it showed. The Void: Same world as the Knack, but a physics experiment gone wrong unleashes full-fledged superpowers on the world. Some of the same characters, as the Void. Arcane Invasion: The USA is invaded by an evil wizard and his armies from a D&D like world. Gale Force: Same world as the Void, but things have gotten weirder, and now there are frequent incursions from other universes. Gale Force is Chicago's local response team. Arcane America: Set in a USA where the Arcane Invasion happened right after WWII, instead of in the 2000s. The PCs are a private security/investigations firm. Ejecta: There are weird objects that defy the laws of physics (and logic, for that matter). The PCs get caught up in a plot around them. Other: I used to co-sysop the Red October BBS occasionally back in the day. Even though I don't post a lot, I'm one of the earliest members of these forums, having come over from previous Hero forums shortly after this site's creation.

As a cyborg who happens to be named Jill, I approve this thread.

I consider it a privilege to have gotten to game with him a few times, even if I never got to playin one of his games. And I'm sad that he never got to finish the new game system he was working on. It was a blast.

Even sites like this might have to close down without section 230. All it takes is one lawsuit to bankrupt an individual or small business. Right now, section 230 provides for an easy dismissal. Without it, anything but the most obviously ridiculous libel claim would have to at least reach the discovery phase, which can be very expensive.

Go, Elliot! Oscar-Nominated ‘Umbrella Academy’ Star Elliot Page Announces He Is Transgender

So the fight went well, then.

The discrete time issue is one of the two reasons I've never played a speedster. That and the area-of-effect problem. Those two issues just offend my sense of verisimilitude too much. I came up with a solution I wanted to try at some point, but I never got around to playing a speedster once I thought of it. 25 Positional Uncertainty: Invisibility to Sight, Hearing, Smell/Taste and Radio Groups and Spatial Awareness , Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (50 Active Points); Linked (Running; -1/2), Does not conceal presence or features, only precise location (-1/2) 2 The idea is that they're not actually invisible, just moving so fast that they can't easily be targeted, even with AOE attacks. By the time an opponent targets the hex where they see the speedster, the speedster isn't there any more. The effect on opponents OCV is a nice bonus.

You're fired.

I had to make it to fifty-five to have the confidence to dress up like this for Halloween, but at least I made it.

A while back I managed to actually finish one on my writing projects. I tried to get it published, without success, and earlier this year posted it online. Someone recently made me realize I hadn't posted a link here, so, here's Lucid. It's a YA superhero novel with a trans girl protagonist. Writing it is what made me finally realize/accept that I'm trans. I'm still trying to write more, so any feedback on what worked or didn't work would be helpful.

Random other thing. As with so many super powers, a person with this would have no need to be a villain if it were effectively permanent. They could be wealthy just by setting up a clinic and charging $10-40k a pop. But, like I said, a lot of powers have similar issues.

I'm heavily on the "It depends on the campaign" side of things. It also depends on the likely duration based on the the reversal condition. Which makes me consider that reversal conditions should probably be figured somehow into the cost of transformation, but that's a different discussion. If it's going to be reversed by the end of the session, I'd call it cosmetic in any except a very heavy role-playing campaign, and maybe only more then, if the characters have reason to believe it's long-term or permanent. So, let's assume it's long-term or effectively permanent. For a game where where non-combat time and role-playing are important, and this is take seriously at all, then this is at minimum a minor, and more realistically a major transformation. IndianaJoe3 mentions social limitations, but the biggest imposed limitation here is going to be gender dysphoria. That could be written up as a psychological limitation, a social limitation, or a combination. It could also be argued as a physical limitation, but that might be a stretch. And gender dysphoria is very real, and, depending on the person can be crippling. I, luckily, never had a severe dose of it, but I have friends who have. Bought realistically, the lims involved could easily top 20 or thirty points. And of course, it wouldn't aways be lims added. For a transgender person who hasn't started transitioning yet, it could easily remove a slough of lims. If they have started transitioning, it would depend on what exactly the transform did to them. If it just goes off your genes, swaps some chromosomes, and rebuilds you, I personally would be fine with it. If it's some metaphysical reversal, where I end up physically a trans guy at the equivalent stage of physical transition, I burn down the world to get the reversal or take pretty savage revenge if it's not possible. I'm pretty confident for most non-transgender people, a permanent change would not be a small thing. It would upend their lives and sense of self. Played realistically the affected person would be more like my second reaction above. They would need to find the reversal. It would consume much of their life until they did. So, in a serious, RP heavy campaign, I really see it as a major transform. To the recognizability issue, that is variable, but generally the change would probably make pretty big differences. For the closest real-world equivalent of a boy-girl gun, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), results vary from, "yeah, she's looks a little more feminine now" to "There's no way that's the same person." Especially with trans women, because a lot of the changes testosterone makes to the body (height, build, facial features), are at to the bone, and thus not as subject to the kind of changes that HRT can make. An actual boy-girl gun wouldn't be subject to those limitations, so, big, big, changes (on average). Anecdotally, recently while grocery shopping, I ran across some people I gamed with for 8-10 hours every week for years, and they didn't recognize me, even when looking straight at me. And I started HRT really late in life and didn't get the full benefits a younger person would have gotten.

Bwa ha ha! The rules are completely eviscerated by today's Supreme Court decision! https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/15/supreme-court-denies-job-protection-lgbt-workers/4456749002/ Edited to add: I mean, it will take some court cases, but the precedent this sets is crystal clear.

So the Trump maladministration has formalized rules making it legal for medical personnel to let me die in the street (or on the operating table) because they think I'm icky.

I'd definitely go the summon route with this. The summoned creatures can be pretty cheap. Most stats can be dropped to 1, and they'll only need the couple of powers that match the ones you want them to use.

I remember very little of this movie, but I loved the bit with Kurt Vonnegut.

It's not enough, but the minimum she'll serve will be five years. For murder (and a host of other dire felonies) in Texas, a convict must serve at least 50% of their sentence (minimum 2 years), before being eligible for parole.

I don't see how anyone can look at the call summary released by the White House and not see enough evidence to impeach. The president of the United States conditioned giving id to an ally, aid that had been voted for a approved, on that ally performing a political favor for the president. Not for the country, but for the president. That's a violation of campaign laws, and even if it weren't, it's a clear abuse of power that calls for impeachment and removal from office.

I don't know what you're talking about

House to open impeachment inquiry

You know what you did.

The existing default does tend to work better (if not perfectly) for stats than powers, I agree. And it's never been that big a deal for me, because I mostly GM, and I just require the players to build the powers in a way that makes sense. I've had very few players who wanted to use adjustment powers (other than for healing or self boosting) anyway. And when I do play, I write up my own characters to make sense (to me, of course). It is definitely one of the easiest to work around flaws in the Hero System. The work arounds are built right in, with the various advantages, The default just grates. That's all. For my next kvetch, I'll go into why I really haven't liked any version of Shape Shift since 4th edition.

The thread on draining longevity has reminded me of an issue I have always had with adjustment powers in Hero. By default, they are based on mechanic rather than special effect, which to me sems to go against the spirit of the Hero System, and is simply illogical to boot. Take "Drain Blast" as an example. What special effect justifies a power that will be equally effective against a Gout of Flame spell (6d6 blast, AOE cone, no range), a baseball cannon (6d6 blast, OAF, 16 charges), and a bio-stun power (4d6 blast, IPE, NND), but has no effect on a Searing Flame spell (2d6 RKA, AOE cone, no range), a spike cannon (2d6 RKA, OAF, 16 charges), or a bio-kill power (1 1/2 d6 RKA NND, does body)[1]? It was a little worse in older editions when armor and forcefield were their own powers. If I bought my forcefield as armor because it was supposed to be persistent anyway, I'd be immune to Forcefiend's forcefield drain because it was bought as Drain Forcefield. But there are still similar problems. If I buy Super Running (40m Flight, Only In Contact With A Surface), I'm immune to Caltrop's Caltrop power, because she bought it as Drain Running[2]. Given that virtually any power in Hero could be purchased with at least two different mechanics, there are virtually unlimited similar examples. A system where special effect comes first would both be more logical, and more consistent with Hero philosophy. [1] This is rhetorical. I know you could come up with a justification, but the level of contrivance would be very high and not suitable as a base. [2] Perhaps better purchased a Change Environment, but that's not the point.

And you are right to do so! That was a really fun movie.