Blade

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now?

Pincushion -- ZZ Top

Re: For the Adam West Hold Outs

The performance part is the easiest to fix. Pull the 400, put in a 460, with a four barrel carb, headers, decent intake, you can pull the 0-60 down to sub 8 seconds probably. I would be a little leery of too much speed in that car, just because of all the stuff hanging on, that all costs big bucks, and looks delicate. The braking is not too difficult either, there are several excess race parts outlets in North and South Carolina that will hook you up with NASCAR brakes that should bolt up to the Lincoln chassis.

The poor (to put it mildly) performance is part of the price of starting with a 70's car to begin with. Also, as I understand it, Batmobiles from all eras (TV, the 1988 movie, etc) have been barely mobile under their own power. I heard that the 1988 Batmobile was so flexible it couldn't be driven at road speeds (full size Chevy wagon chassis, stretched to the enormous wheelbase of the Michael Keaton Batmobile). If you can drive a Batmobile around town, performance may not be the big draw. As the article said, "All is forgiven when you turn on the Bat-Siren, or answer the Bat-Phone."

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now?

Melt Again by Front 242, followed by Help Me I am in H*** by Nine Inch Nails

Re: Legacy Characters of the Champions Universe?

I toyed with a legacy to Captain Patriot, but couldn't decide if I should power up to a more full-fledged CU brick, or go for a mixed ability character based on a combination of Captain Patriot's abilities being (partially) inherited along with a partial dose of speedster or something else.

The background was going to be (in summary) that Captain Patriot had a fling with a young USO girl on a War Bond Tour. She (unbeknownst to him) had a daughter who, when he was loosing his powers in the 50's/60's was gaining them. Not knowing about her father, she did not know about the source of the power, she created her own secret ID as a costumed crimefighter (never closed on a name here, something very Silver Age, possibly Silver Age Silly). As a superheroine, she met and married another superhero (speedster, martial artist, weapon master, energy blaster, or another brick?) and eventually had a son, who as a teenager began to manifest the super-strength, invulnerability, etc, while his mother simultaneously lost them. The power was inherited, but only one could have it. The boy had been raised in the knowledge of his parents former costumed careers, and was now eager to begin his superheroic career. Never finalized a name either, but it would probably be related to his mother's in some sense.

In my contemplation, the character would have: DNPC: Mother, former superheroine, Normal, Useful skills, knows Secret ID; Psy Lim: Overconfidence (ah, youthful enthusiasm...we'll beat that out); Psy Lim: Living up to legacy; etc.

Other limitations would include Physical Limits/vulnerabilies/susceptibilities inherited from Captain Patriot, and his father (usure on details there), as well as possibly being hunted by legacy enemies and his own. In particular, I always thought it would be fun to be hunted by Bulldozer (always showing up looking for a rematch.., distracting from the business at hand)

Re: Various Star Damage

Second' date=' to throw another variable into the equasion, isn't calling any part of a star its "surface" pretty much an arbitrary designation? Like Saturn, it's a cloud with an attitude, there is no place to stand.[/quote']

 

Yes, there is no definable surface, but you do have an outer layer (the photosphere) that has lower temperatures (if you can say that about 6,000 degrees Kelvin) and this is what I was working with. This is essentially the radiated color temperature, and determines the spectrum of black-body radiation off of the star. I was going for a reasonable, with simplified physics, way to quantify the heat damage from being "inside" the star. At the level I represented, you are just far enough in to have equal radiant heat from all sides.

 

A star is not so much a cloud with an attitude, but an atomic fusion fireball with some staying power.

Re: Various Star Damage

All the effects of a star are environmental effects. Get full life support and call it a day.

The only reason I would not go this route, is that if I created a character who had flown into a star to escape pursuit, and was injured in any way by Blowtorch, I would feel a little foolish. I completely understand the "environmental effect" approach, but flying into a star is slightly beyond most "high heat" environments. When you can survive temperatures that vaporize steel, I think it is worth more than a 2 pt Life Support option.

Re: Various Star Damage

Jaxom is right on all of these issues, which is partly why I concentrated on the outer surface, which is still hot enough to scare away ships made of metals (or essentially any composite material I have seen). I was also, in my mind, assuming a "Superman" type of character, who could fly, was super-strong, etc, so many of these factors would already be included..

I think, personnaly, that a fairly typical (for the Champions Universe characters I have seen) "brick" level of PD/ED (normal and resistant) with a healthy bonus ED (to about 50 ED total) or Energy Damage Reduction (50-75%), only vs. Fire/Heat/Plasma would represent this well without being unbalancing, or making a character "Invincible". For example, against Eurostar, this character might be largely immune to Feurmacher's attacks (except for knockback), but would be affected by Durak, Scorpia's poisons, Fiacho's corrosive pellets, Mentalla, and Ultrasonique. If all six are attacking you, it seems only fair that 1 should have no effect, and if there are a comparable number of PCs, then Eurostar is smart/coordinated enough to call for a shuffle of targets.

I would argue that for most villian groups, only one would not be able to affect the character, and this would become obvious quicly enough to not create an unbalancing effect on the game.

Re: For the Adam West Hold Outs

For the truly (obsessively?) dedicated fan, according to a recent Car and Driver magazine (July 07), there is at least one company that will build you a BatMobile. They are based on 70's Lincolns and the cost goes up with how accurate you want to get. They start at about $90K, and climb quickly as you want more of the BatToys.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/13107/batmobile.html

Re: [Review] Galactic Champions

I have the book, and I would say that Galactic Champions is aimed squarely at a LSH type of game. I thought it was solid, and I don't recall much in the way of ordinary crime in the LSH comics, but that was some time ago, and I may have forgotten. As I recall it was mostly stopping the Big Villian From Destroying a Planet, and similar plots.

Re: Various Star Damage

Just for reference, the surface temperature of the Sun (ours) is about 5800 Kelvin, or 10,000 F, a Red dwarf would be slightly cooler, at about 5000 K or 8,00 F. At that temperature the dominant Heat Transfer mode will be radiant, at about 52 megaWatts per square meter for our sun, or 28 megaWatts per square meter for a Red Dwarf. If we use an Iron block as a measure, according to the Ultimate Brick, a 1 ft^3 block has 200 kg mass, and about 0.6 m^2 of surface area. It also has a specific heat of 440 J/kg K and the melting point of Iron is about 1800 K. Therefore to raise the 200 kg of Iron to melting takes 132 MJ, and our Yellow Sun will do that in about 4 seconds, while a Red Dwarf would take about 8 seconds.

Since, according to the Ultimate Brick, the Iron block has DEF 6, BOD 25, we can say that the Yellow Sun does about 4d6 RKA per segment (14 BOD average, 24 Max), while the Red Dwarf does about 3d6 RKA per segment (10 BOD Average, 18 Max). Since your character also needs to resist the damage indefinitely, he/she would have to have the 18 or 24 rED, plus the extra ED/Damage Reduction to deal with the Stun (25-35 average per segment, or 90-120 max).

To expand on this, I would give the following:

Star Color Temp KA/Segment

Red 5000K 3d6

Yellow 5800K 4d6

Green 6100K 5d6

Blue 7400K 7d6 (This is probably about the White Dwarf level)

Re: Favorite Green Lantern

Kilowog, love the inventor/brick/Green Lantern....

Re: Hulk vs Superman

I have nothing to contribute to this agruement except that (IMO) the Hulk is much cooler than Superman, and therefore I would be cheering for the Hulk. Also, to Pariah, rep for your signature block Q&A. Love the geek joke.

Re: [Help] Living Flame or How to Create a Body of Fire?

Or you could take a look at Feurmacher in CKC, under Eurostar....

Re: Ideas for Dino Character

As a potential source of material/inspiration, you may want to check out "West of Eden" by Harry Harrison, which has saurian humanoids dominating the earth (humans are around, but are slaves). Might inspire some thoughts, or just some appearance traits.

Re: Height & weight ratios

My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that the way I likes it!

--Grandpa Simpson

And it tops out at 40K Furlongs per fortnight.....

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Saw Happy Feet and Pursuit of Happyness this weekend, would highly recommend both, for different reasons. Happy Feet is a fun family movie, some adventure, very clean, good for the smaller kids. Pursuit of Happyness is a more serious movie, very well done, good acting, good message (you are not guarantteed happiness, only that you can pursue it..., pick your dream and push for it). Enjoyed both.

Picked up a digital version of Ultimate X-Men issues 1-70, plus annuals, bios, etc..... at Best Buy for $9.99 this weekend. If you are missing a few, or just want to have an easily portable version you can read on the road, this might be your ticket. When I found it, it was in the Movie/DVD section with the Action Movies. Thought somebody out there would be interested.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now?

Country Girl - Black Sabbath

Sabbath with Dio...Tasty....

Mystery...Dio..From his solo career

Re: Electricity and DCs

Good reference' date=' thanks Blade. However, I am dealing with an AOE attack, about a 6" radius. How would that work?[/quote']

 

I'm not sure about the special effects you are going for, but I am picturing a large collection of lightning bolts in the area, maybe looking something like a plasma ball, striking everything within the area. These would still have relatively small impact areas to each person/target within the area, not a single lightning bolt 24 meters across. In any case, for "reality" the 40 kV determines how far the bolt will arc through the air, how much current could be driven (I = V/R), and thus the overall power (P = I*V = V*V/R = I*I*R). If the current source has sufficient amperage capacity, all targets would take the same damage, if they had similar resistance (parrallel circuits--equal voltage drop and equal resistance = equal power dissipation).

 

That all being said, I would give it a reasonable DC rating, and define the power in Watts by the DCs. If a .45 has about 6 DC (2d6 RKA) then we could define each lightning bolt as 2,000 Watts at 12d6N or 4d6 KA and go with it. If you want the AE, the current source is limited, so each target gets a lower Wattage (fewer DC, and the APs stay constant, so the GM is happy....). In any case, power (Wattage) is what counts, not voltage, so just define it that way, or define it in Volts with an amperage capacity to bring you to a reasonable power level. For the description of your character, you just need comic book science anyway, so go with what sounds good.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now?

Mind Your Own Business -- Living Colour

Re: Electricity and DCs

Just as a point of reference for you, a .45 pistol delivers about 1,000 W of power (to a square centimeter of area). Usually damage is done by power/area, i.e. if you have a lot of power over a huge area, it does very little damage (solar irradiation: 900 Watts/square meter at the earth's surface--no damage to people, over the short term anyway, vs the .45, which deals the power out over 1/10,000 of the area--hole in person). I realize the mechanisms are different here, but the point is, the damage is done by the power absorbed in an area. Metal cutting lasers (industrial application) cut through plate steel with about 3,000-4,000 Watts (continuous output), concentrated into a spot about 1 square milimeter, and they cut through steel like a hot knife through butter. You are probably are looking at a similar level of power/area, so scale it up to the size hole you want to punch and you will get a power level. Hope that helps.

Re: why the UNITED NATIONS? (for global super-agency)

I guess that when I read the first post, my thought was: "Why the $%&& not the UN?" The Interpol comment made sense, but I see UNTIL as more paramilitary than law enforcement, so we are back to a multinational team, and the UN makes some sense there. As far as whether the UN could be trusted with it or not, It Is A Fantasy World! If we can suspend disbelief long enough to accept superheroes, why not an ideal UN? Alternatively, the UN, and UNTIL, could be packed with intrigues and backstabbing, technology theft, and lions and tigers and bears, oh my... It's a game world, make of it what you like.

Re: Limitations and the Silver Age

I think bullets are usually made of lead' date=' though (except steel-jacketed bullets?), so she probably wouldn't have much trouble with them.[/quote']

 

Most bullets are made of lead, some are steel jacketed, most are jacketed with brass, but often they are not "full metal jacket" bullets because partially jacketed bullets mushroom and do more damage. As a side note, in a more modern (time period) game, most shotguns will use steel shot (lead poisons fish and waterfowl, etc, so many states mandated steel shot, resulting in most shotgun shells using steel shot. In any case, I wouldn't go with steel as a vulnerability for a faerie character, I think any pure Iron weapon would be fine (watch out for Iron of the Metal Men, delivering the Silver Age Beat Down!!!)

Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster!

If you place a bomb in the engine of a jet airliner, several things will happen:

1. As mentioned above: jet fuel spraying all over the place, probably burning jet fuel--Lots'o'fire.

2. Shrapnel from the engine, as the compressor tears itself apart at 50,000 rpm will fly away from the engine (I would treat this as some kind of area effect RKA ~3d6 with a random chance of being hit). This effect will increase the amount of fuel (1) because the shrapnel will be punching more holes in the wing.

3. If it is a 747, there are four engines, and probably the other one on the same wing will bite the dust also, with similar results.

4. Multi-ton engines (about the size of a VW) falling from the sky!

5. I saw a B-52 that injested a seagull into one of the port engines, the shrapnel ripped most of the tail off--more stuff falling from the sky.

6. Don't forget the need to get everyone off the plane before it blows! (comic book, probably not in the real world) Alternatively, the flying brick who carries the plane down may have to set it in the water, so everyone off before it sinks! (Of course the villian would have tampered with the raft/slides.

7. Many of those on the plane will need medical attention: Any MD/Mystics on the team?

Just a few suggestions.

Re: Looking for help - stealth suit powers?

If you want to sneak, Invisibility to Hearing group would be a nice touch. How about an HKA (xd6) with Invisible power effects (Hearing group) only vs inanimate objects or electronics. This would represent the ability to silently destroy locks which had defeated your lockpicking skills, or an EMP weapon which would wipe out electronic alarms.

A "classic" Soviet spy suit might also include lethal hand to hand weaponry (HKAs) or lethal silent ranged weaponry (RKA: invisible to hearing group).

For any powered armor, you could justify all kinds of enhanced senses: Radar Sense, Nightvision, Thermal Perception, HRRP, Ultrasonic Hearing, +X w/ PER rolls, Telescopic senses, even discriminatory/analyze on smell (got to sniff out those booby traps and security systems). Unusual detects could be appropriate: Detect Electronic Devices (Sense, Discriminatory, Analyze) to find burglar alarms (and any other hidden electronics).

Hope that helps.