Matt Frisbee

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

I agree -- our number one priority is to stop the flow of this (little yellow) river of toilet humor puns. We're not (toilet) bowling over anyone with this (yellow) snow job of lexicon, crowing to the world about our prowess. It's time to choke this chicken and tie a knot in it!

Matt "I-P-Freely" Frisbee

Re: Dumbest thing...

1) Matt Murdock's evil twin skippy Mike Murdock (which was Matt's way of explaining Daredevil's "Secret Identity" for a while).

2) Fascination by Superman writers of coming up special effects for "different colored kryptonite" and "different types of sunlight" to handicap him for various galactic challenges.

3) The whole symbiote storyline(s) in Spiderman as an explanation for a costume change, instead of saying that the artists were tired of drawing all the details on the old costume.

4) The New Warriors ripping off the Avengers' Quin-Jet. (Funny, though.)

5) The Fantastic Four having their very public headquarters in downtown Manhattan -- with other tenants in the same building -- and still being able to afford both rent and insurance premiums...

Matt "Funkiller" Frisbee

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

I was going to tell a wee joke about the situation urine, but everybody beat me to the punchline -- oh well, bladder late than never!

Matt "Feeling-punchy-tonight" Frisbee

Re: For the Adam West Hold Outs

Robin: "Atomic batteries to power...turbine to speed."

Batman: "Ready to move out."

*SFX* Turbine flare and squealing tires.

*MUSIC* "Transitional Twist" stinger into Batman theme music

CREDITS OVER Stock footage of Batmobile driving from the Batcave to Gotham City Police Headquarters.

Yeah, it's a sweet ride -- but did you ever notice the nosedive it always did under braking in the live drive shots in the show? Such yummy fanboy goodness.

Matt "Drooling-Yvonne-Craig-and-Julie-Newmar-fanboy-for-all-these-years" Frisbee

Re: Now that is a space suit...

I'm holding out for skintight and transparent' date=' but this is a forward step.[/quote']

 

Until then, there's always Barbarella...

 

In seriousness' date=' I've wondered for awhile why the bulkiness of the 60's suit has never been significantly improved. I guess it was never a big priority when weighed against other considerations.[/quote']

 

I think (so don't quote me) the reason for the bulk of the old spacesuits was protection against micrometeors and insulation issues. I know that NASA uses low pressure, oxygen rich suits (that require the astronauts to nitrogen purge before each spacewalk to avoid the bends), while the Russians prefer a higher pressure standard mix suit that has more limited mobility but can be donned quickly without a lot of prep time.

 

One thing's for sure -- there aren't going to be many fat astronauts if that suit is adopted (not that there are many now, of course).

 

Matt "Still-waiting-on-NASA-to-call-me-about-a-ride-on-the-space-shuttle" Frisbee

Re: The Grand List Of Overuse Science Fiction Cliches

Yo, people, just remember that Mars needs our women while Venus needs our men! (Or was that the moon? Or Mongo? Or Risa?)

Matt "I-know-I'm-needed-somewhere-in-the-universe-so-don't-they-come-pick-me-up-already?" Frisbee

Re: What does YOUR underground mutant organization do when:

To clarify:

 

When gently reminded that "Remember you're supposed to take this guy alive." after declaring his intent, the character said to me only: "I just want to tag the guy."

 

Then, without declaring any specific hit locations, or even hit location areas: he shot the guy.

 

This same character has also taken it upon himself to build a version of the "Brotherhood of Mutants" with all that that implies. So this player has explained to me some of his future plans, all of which seem to be terrorist actions.

 

This new human inferiority idea of his was created all on his own, with no GM or world input, and no character backstory to go along with it.

Okay -- this guy is going to be a royal pain in the @$$, since he seems intent on trashing your storyline and inserting his own. Short and sweet -- have the big baddies maul his personage badly enough to put him on the sidelines, then leave him as bait for a hardcore ambush if the rest of the team is stupid enough to walk into it. (If they're smart, they'll smell a trap and act accordingly.) While that is happening, have the baddies use the information they have gained from him to take down his "Brotherhood" while he's laid up. He gets to watch the action unfold around him rather than participate (much) which will hopefully inspire him to (1) respect party intent, (2) respect the effort you put into making a campaign plotline that includes all of the characters, and (3) quit trying to hog the spotlight.

Remember, if it's a dark and gritty world, nobody is playing by the rules -- feel free to be creatively sadistic to the screw-ups as a warning to the others as to what happens to somebody who gets on your bad side.

And good luck with the campaign, by the way...

Matt "Bonejack-the-cyberware-and-sell-the-entrails-to-Tasty-Ghoul" Frisbee

Re: WWYCD: Fans and cons

Low Rent: He would insist that any comic based on his likeness pay into a charity fund for the people of the Lodo, but wouldn't do public appearances, figuring that his enemies would use them to stage ambushes and get a bunch of innocent people hurt. If Claire "Crystal" Vosser asked him to attend one, however, he would be there on time and in costume...

Scrapyard: He would be there because he usually needs money to make ends meet in his personal life, though most likely in his heroic identity.

Sky: Public appearances are his idea of a good time -- so long as they're for a good cause. Since he is always on call (he's a public superhero who is a member of the local fire department as an EMT), he would have a bail clause in his contract and the appearence money would go to a local charity.

Thunderbolt: "I'm too busy to give autographs to a bunch of drooling fanboys! The Illegal Army is still on the loose!"

Matt "Living-the-dream" Frisbee

Re: What does YOUR underground mutant organization do when:

Well, my campaigns play pretty gritty, but if the other players actually allow the idiot to live (because a screw-up will also rat you out eventually), he's also going to come to the attention of the big baddies the target was working for -- so will the other characters, for that matter. And being my usual nasty self, I'd make the screw-up priority target number one for a kidnapping and telepathic probe (interrogation, mind sifter test subject, etc.) for all the information he has on the rest of the group.

Of course, I'd give the rest of the characters the option of attempting a rescue -- but said screw-up is going to be on the sidelines for most of the adventure, which should teach him a lesson about going rogue in the future. Plus, I would have one of the interrogation staff have all of the information I wanted my original NPC to impart to the characters in the first place. Thus, two problems fixed, though the plot's timeline steps up considerably, unless the characters have the good sense to lay low for a while to let the bad guys think they've scattered rather than regrouped...

Hope things work out for you and yours -- but yeah, I probably would've slapped this moron after he gleefully wastes a major plot element of mine.

Matt "Anger-Management-Candidate" Frisbee

Re: How to kill characters?

OK, So I may be jumping the gun on this right now, but I may actually just go ahead and dump the game on account of whininess. Right now I have 4 players, because one is away for a while. In our last session the big bad I built, who is the more powerful evil half of our brick, demonstrated his power by getting rid of the only PC he felt was at least a little bit of a challenge. Namely, our Brick. He hit him with a pushed megascale punch, and sent the brik flying out of the combat by about 3 KMs. When the player built his character, he sacrificed moevement powers to be tougher in combat, and so only has 10" in flight and no noncombat multiple. So the fact that it woud take him so long to get back to the fight is a fault with the build of his character. All the players were also playing an NPC, as well as their PCs for this particular fight, since they were teamed up with a neighboring supergroup for this fight. So its not like he was left out of the fight comepletely.

 

However, because I deemed to use an ability that the villain had, I got nothing but whining out of it. That was forgivable at first, because that is only expected at times, during a game, when things don't the players way.

 

What wasn't acceptable so far though, was the player that caused the big stink was out this last game, and the game before. (The game before because of his whining, and this one beause his work had him out of town.) Anyway, he has finally started responding to emails again, and sent an "apology?" email to the group where he explained why he got so upset in the previous emails he had sent. (Though there was no apology, just an explaination which is why I used the questionmark) When someone informed him of the basics of what happened while he was gone, he only focused on the brick getting sent flying because the villain had a powerful attack. Like I said at the beginning, I may be jumping the gun, but if I get much more whining about this stuff, I might just end the game without a wrap up, and tell them it is because they can't seem to handle a real game with real challenges. Then I will go about ooking for some real players.

Sorry that your group folded, but in the end, you definitely have the right attitude now. Here's hoping your future gaming efforts (and players) work out a little better.

Matt "Old-school-still-rules" Frisbee

Re: Hero name

RetroGen -- Retro-Genetic mutation (human to dinosaur)

Throwback -- another historical reference

B.C. -- short for Beast Creature and an obvious play on the age of the dinosaur

The Raptorian -- a cool way to say raptor, dude -- plus if the hero had some street cred, it would be even better

Primaul -- admittedly kind of a villain name, but still pretty cool

Hope that helps!

Matt "Used-to-be-a-copywriter" Frisbee

Re: Dies the Fire Trilogy... PA inspiration?

Read it -- based a FUDGE campaign that ran until all of the characters tried to bite off more than they could chew and got gakked. But they all agreed it was fun while it lasted!

Characters were typical human types like us and actually went through The Day and managed to survive for about a month (game time) before dying at the hands of bandits.

If you want more, I'll see if I can scrounge my notes.

Matt "Aftermath-junkie" Frisbee

Re: How to kill characters?

As for being desperate for the companionship of "these people". One of them' date=' the less vocal, who isn't the real problem has been my friend since before high school, so it isn't as simple as you indicate. He is a friend, not someone that I roleplay with that I am hoping will be my friend... "Oh please be my friend?" What do you think I am 13?[/quote']

 

Okay, you're not 13 -- but, to be honest, that's the way it read on my end. To be perfectly blunt (and to misquote an infamous PSA from radioland) "You gotta be the GM" if you're going to GM. I can understand the whole "wanting to please the crowd" thing when it comes to running the game, but by your own admission (your words) you're bored and you think at least one of the character concepts are silly. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not trying to insult anybody -- but if it's a pain to run the game, then don't run it. When the crew gets the GM they want back at the end of the year, then it's his problem, not yours.

 

I am now running this alternately with another who runs a different game' date=' when I am not running. So it isn't like I can completely change the landscape by kicking people out and inviting new ones. Sure I don't need the one who started the problem, and that would be fine, he would simply play in one game and not in mine, but I cannot simply invite new people all the time as we then typically open up the other games being played to them as well.[/quote']

 

If this is running alternately with another game, why not let the other GM take over full time and declare that "your" campaign is on hiatus until the other person comes back? That would be easiest, of course. If you don't want to give up the driver's seat, then you had best be prepared to drive the bus, so to speak, and get this player on the same page as the rest of the group. If the rest of the group doesn't want to play ball, then invite one of them to run the group for awhile -- especially your "problem child" if you can manage it. Usually a turn behind the GM screen gives these people some perspective.

 

 

Finally' date=' if I were to bend to your suggestion to just kick them out of the group rather than give people what they want. How would that make me a better GM. In my personal opinion, a GM doesn't just run a game, he leads it. As such, he or she has to take the feelings of their players into account. That doesn't means letting them walk all over you, but taking what they feel into account. If they are fine with things ending one way, but not another, then I do my best to try and give them what they want.[/quote']

 

And who's doing the bulk of the work of running the game? YOU ARE. By definition, if you decide not to play, then nobody plays, right? As such, you are entitled to make a few demands on the players, especially those that make your game more work and less fun. Call it old school, but that's the way I run my game, and I don't have problems like these. And, I never lack for players because people in the gaming community know I run a good game. That doesn't mean gamer politics is out the window here -- but have certain requirements for the people who sit at my table. Over the last 25 years of being a hardcore gaming geek, I've learned that what works.

 

That does not mean I give them 750pt characters' date=' that does not mean I only run scenario's they personally like, though in that situation if you only ran things you liked and didn't care if anyone else had fun, you would have no players. Being a GM has a lot more give and take than some of you are giving it credit for. Trust me I've been GMing for over twenty years.[/quote']

 

Short and sweet, I do care if other people have fun. I'm a damn good GM and have been for a long time. My point is, that I put a lot of work into my games to make them better than average. I get upset at myself when my players aren't having fun, because that mean that I haven't done my job. But if I'm going to invest my time, passion and effort, I have the right to have fun as well. Because of this, I feel I have the right to demand a better than average quality of player.

 

And, despite the tone of this posting, I'm hoping that you understand that I'm only going to this extreme because I'd like you to be happy at the gaming table -- because (like it or not) the paper and pencil and dice and imagination on the table top gamer is becoming an endangered species these days (IMHO). And I'd like to keep my options open.

 

Good luck with your situation, and yes, I am curious how it turns out.

 

Matt "Still-banging-that-old-school-gaming-drum" Frisbee

Re: How to kill characters?

I did not actually say that I was going to make people make new characters and play a completely different campaign (Though I sort of want to as some of the newer characters are just stupid' date=' concept-wise, and the campaign itself has become boring for me.[/i'] Though taking it in a new direction may fix this.) How could I go about killing the characters I need to kill, without looking like I went out of my way to kill them? Any ideas?

Cardinal rule of role playing:

If you're not having fun, don't do it.

Cardinal rule of GM-ing:

It's your game, run it how you want it. If the players don't want to play in it, then don't invite them and find new ones.

Second cardinal rule of GM-ing:

It's your game -- so it's your fault if you let stupid characters in that ruin it. Fix the problem diplomatically, but if that doesn't work, engineer a situation and waste 'em. If your players can't handle the loss of the occasional character, they aren't worth the trouble -- so lose them.

Final comment:

Your posting makes you sound like you are desperate to have the companionship of these people. If that's the case, you should find something else to play that is less taxing for you and more fun for everyone. If that's not the case, there are plenty of other players out there -- go find better ones than you have.

Oh, and don't forget the magic of peer pressure -- if these stupid characters start causing grief for everyone, the others will eventually start stepping in to nip the problem in the bud.

Matt "The-tough-love-GM" Frisbee

Re: How to kill characters?

I did not actually say that I was going to make people make new characters and play a completely different campaign (Though I sort of want to as some of the newer characters are just stupid' date=' concept-wise, and the campaign itself has become boring for me.[/i'] Though taking it in a new direction may fix this.) How could I go about killing the characters I need to kill, without looking like I went out of my way to kill them? Any ideas?

Cardinal rule of role playing:

If you're not having fun, don't do it.

Cardinal rule of GM-ing:

It's your game, run it how you want it. If the players don't want to play in it, then don't invite them and find new ones.

Second cardinal rule of GM-ing:

It's your game -- so it's your fault if you let stupid characters in that ruin it. Fix the problem diplomatically, but if that doesn't work, engineer a situation and waste 'em. If your players can't handle the loss of the occasional character, they aren't worth the trouble -- so lose them.

Final comment:

Your posting makes you sound like you are desperate to have the companionship of these people. If that's the case, you should find something else to play that is less taxing for you and more fun for everyone. If that's not the case, there are plenty of other players out there -- go find better ones than you have.

Oh, and don't forget the magic of peer pressure -- if these stupid characters start causing grief for everyone, the others will eventually start stepping in to nip the problem in the bud.

Matt "The-tough-love-GM" Frisbee

Re: Post-Apoc Adventures

The entire big walled city in the middle of the wilderness with no supporting surrounding settlements theme was a founding principle in creating Savage Earth. I wanted that. Much of the campaign ground rules sprang from trying to find economic and ecological ways of supporting that essentially unrealistic but exceedingly cool concept.

 

Keith "Here are the creator notes" Curtis

That concept works if the city can generate the resources it needs to operate. Synthetic food and/or hydroponic gardens, resources from mines below the city, a petrochemical source for the creation of plastics, a highly managed birth rate so that the population doesn't outstrip the city's capacity, a highly structured society to pidgeonhole the young into essential services while the priviledged few remain in power (or could be managed by sentient computers) -- yeah, that's really not a place I would want to live. But then, if the alternative is trying to make a living in the wastelands, a freedomless society might not seem so bad...

A better take on that would be a city based on the preservation of society, much like the monastery in Canticle for Liebowitz that preserves pre-holocaust information and technology. If you're really looking for something like Keith's vision, check out the Samauri 7 anime series -- during the first few episodes, they nail this concept down cold.

Matt "Loves-YouTube.com" Frisbee

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

I think the worst music experience I've ever lived through was the Star Wars Christmas Special, though the Star Wars Robot Chicken "Empire on Ice" sketch was a pretty close second.

Matt "Needs-a-selective-memory-wipe" Frisbee

Re: My Cool Color Hudson City Map

I don't care if Steve and company are busy, I still want a Hudson City Street Map!

And I'd kinda like it sooner rather than later, too.

Please? Pretty Please? Pretty Please with Sugar on it? Pretty Please with Sugar and Chocolate Sprinkles? Pretty Please with Sugar and Chocolate Sprinkles with a complementary insulin shot?

Matt "Okay-I've-debased-myself-enough-now" Frisbee

Re: Post-Apoc Adventures

Your basic scenarios --

Grocery Run

Your group needs basic supplies and has a lead on where to get some. Problem is, the way you got the information, anybody else who's looking probably knows the same things you do.

Turf War

A group of toughs is raiding nearby settlements and your crew is hired to take them out. The twist? These guys are from a hospital complex that's sheltering hundreds of homeless children. If they're stopped, it'll be mass starvation and most of a generation lost.

Treasure Chest

People are suddenly dying from radiation poisoning. Your group is tasked with finding the source before anyone else on the home turf succumbs. (If you've read Alas, Babylon you'll figure it out.)

Siren Song

A ham radio operator on the home turf is picking up a strange signal that sound like a distress call of some kind. A group of volunteers is selected to seek out the source of the strange signal and render what aid they can. (If you've seen On The Beach, you'll see how this one ends, too.)

A More Perfect Union

The groups in the region decide to hold a conference to hammer out some issues involving trade and mutual defense. Unfortunately, there are also some grudges to settle and before too long, there's a murder or two, but the most likely suspects claim innocence and have the proof to back it up. The group, decidedly neutral in these affairs, is asked to solve the murders, but not take too long, as the violence just below the surface of diplomacy is set to boil over...

Snipe Hunt

A group of wolves threaten the home turf's precious supply of farm animals, but every hunter set against them has died. Now it's your group's turn to solve the problem -- can you piece together the clues to save your own lives from the pack's deadly secret?

Hope that's what you were looking for, Captain.

Matt "Bubbling-over-with-ideas-on-a-slow-radio-night" Frisbee

Re: Post-Apoc Adventures

Some of the more basic plotlines from PA movies and books:

Damnation Alley (book): Shanghai a former Hell's Angel to run from California through the nuke-blasted Midwest chock full of radioactive mutant monsters to deliver serum to people dying of an epidemic on the East Coast.

The Survivalist (book series): Survive World War III long enough to find your estranged wife and reconcile, then raid a secret lab for cryohibernation units to ride out the spontaneous combustion of the atmosphere. Reawaken five hundred years later and try to put the pieces of the shattered earth back together for a new beginning, despite the fact that a lot of really bad guys managed to survive as well.

Dies The Fire (book trilogy): Have all the world's modern technology suddenly stop working, find a way to make it through the great die-off during the first year, then start building your own neo-communes and neo-feudalistic societies while some SCA nutcase with a bunch of punk thugs for lackeys who thinks he's Sauron reborn constantly challenges your very existence through superior resource exploitation.

The Day After (TV Movie): World War III in Mid-America. Guess what? Nobody survives for very long.

Jericho (TV Series): An extremely efficient terrorist group simultaneously nukes dozens of cities in the United States, leaving a Mid-American town in chaos and confusion as the citizens face one crisis after another while still trying to clean up the debris of their lives from before the bombs.

Still more to come...

Matt "Still-waiting-for-it-Steve" Frisbee

Re: Post-Apoc Adventures

Okay, seriously -- here's the adventure types I've used in the many PA campaigns I've run.

The absolute two best story arcs ever done for a PA game occur in the Twilight:2000 game. The Black Madonna is one of those "What do you do if you have something that everybody wants?" After spending half of the adventure back-stabbing and getting double-crossed by nearly everybody in Poland, the group finally gets their hands on that country's most famous Catholic relic. The other half of the story arc is the character interactions with the various groups and warlords that are (mostly) willing to kill to get it, and what the characters are willing to trade for it. (Thankfully my group decided to give it to what was left of the Catholic church in Poland, forever earning the blessing of the country's common folk.)

The other one was The Last Train To Clarksville adventure where the final ship for the United States has announced it's leaving in two months, and the characters have to refurbish a museum antique steam locomotive, rescue the only guy who's had any experience running it from the local warlord, and then make the desperate run on the rails through contested territories to reach the ship in time. (My group saw several long-running characters make the ultimate sacrifice for their buddies, including two who died fighting within sight of the port -- that was intense.)

If you're more for road action in the wasteland, check out role-playing materials for Steve Jackson's Car Wars games, especially the older stuff. That had a wasteland United States with remote pockets of civilization scattered about, all tied together with satellite television. And what's the hottest sport on television? Autodueling -- combat rigged vehicles blazing away at each other on old race tracks, burnt out shopping malls and specially designed arena facilities for fun and profit!

More to come...

Matt "Can't-wait-for-PA-Hero" Frisbee

Re: Post-Apoc Adventures

Just remember that all Post-Apoc stuff doesn't have to be gritty to be fun -- remember the kids' show ARK II? A group of young scientists trying to save the world in the 24th Century after pollution brought the biosphere to the brink -- driving around in a Damnation Alley-esque vehicle with a dune buggy, motorcycles and jet pack inside! They had futuristic weapons, of course, but never really used them, plus they had an uplifted chimpanzee of human intelligence helping out the crew...

Yeah, I watched every episode -- how'd you guess?

Oh! and if that doesn't fill your schmaltz quotient, how about the old Logan's Run series? Logan, Jessica and an android kicking around a post-nuclear world in a hovercraft...

Matt "Action-Saturday-mornings-junkie" Frisbee

Re: What's in a Name

An interesting thought on the matter from my favorite webcomic Freefall:

http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01115.htm

Be sure to check out the rest of the series -- it goes slow, but it's a hoot!

Matt "The-shameless-fanboy" Frisbee

Re: Armageddon 1946

Interesting stuff, Zach. Thanks for sharing it!

Just a note to the rest of you -- Armageddon 1946 Playtesting Rules are currently in their third rewrite. This is due to the fact that many of the so-called "Open License" systems come with a lot of strings attached these days. So, now it is going to be a home system to run everything, which adds a lot of complications to a project I've attempted (and failed miserably) once before. *sigh* But, on the bright side, it has forced me to address some issues with the game universe that were only vague notions before, so in the end, I am making progress toward the ultimate goal of getting this thing written. Unless Steve and company object to my little bit of self-promotion, I'll continue to post updates on the progress.

Matt "Working-the-keyboard-as-fast-as-I-can" Frisbee

Re: What Kind of Heroes do you GM?

I like the kind of character that has realistic problems (even if they are about unrealistic situations). I like characters that actually interact with the rest of the world in their secret/civilian identities and try to have a life in spite of their powers, since that gives me a chance to role-play as well. I like characters that not only work with the other supers in the group, but can socialize with them as well. I like slightly underpowered characters in comparison to the villains because they have to work for their victories by using their brains rather than just rolling dice. I like heroes that really want to be heroes by helping and protecting complete strangers -- not glory-hound posers who are only in it for the endorsements and ego-stroking publicity photos. I like heroes who stand up to the really big baddies, even though they know they're seriously outclassed, and use inventiveness and teamwork to thwart the plans of evil. I like heroes who are modest and thankful for the trust the local authorities and populace have placed in them and feel the awful responsibility of that trust every time they answer the call. I like heroes who can treat their enemies as people too, showing compassion and concern for those they have vanquished, offering to help them become better people and turn their lives around. And most importantly, I want characters in my campaign to be cool -- to have that something special that sets them apart from every other character I've run over the years -- so that the player will love that character enough to want to make him or her better, to take the lumps and early defeats in stride and keep coming back for more.

Yeah, that's what I want.

Matt "Knows-what-he-wants" Frisbee