Mad Fnorder

Re: Relativistic Effects of Interstellar War Alternatively, since every ship is GOING to be out of date by the time it sees battle, design them to be disposable. Instead of orbital bombardment cannons, design the prow of the ship to be launched and fragment, and so forth. As long as whatever's left can get the crew home, leave the wreck behind.

Re: Does anyone have any idea why this is legal? We all know stop sign powers. This is a stop sign player. This is all complete conjecture, and I mean no affront or offense to the player, And if I'm wrong, I put forth nothing but the most vehement apologies. That being said, my READ is that he's the sort of person who takes pleasure in derailing plans. Going where the GM doesn't intend, not to further the plot but derail it- Like the previous "going for chinese food" example, only dragging everyone along and making up his own adventure- "Hey guys, let's go move the Terra Cotta warriors around backwards!". I also see them murdering BBEGs while they're giving their introductory speech, and reveling as the GM sputters as his tenth straight adventure was run off the rails in five minutes or less, or your pizza money back. On the first build? I can completely imagine them talking to some shady but public figure, a mob boss or sinister corporate executive, and then going ahead and saying, "I invisibly head asplode him." and grinning like a jackal as they scoop up dice to fry your plot thread. The second build seriously says to me that he's going to 'surprise grab people' since "They can't see the tentacles until it grabs them, since it doesn't cross the space in between- shouldn't they all be at half DCV?" , then try his EDM-and-drop maneuver, which thankfully we have a hole for. I'm guessing he'll define the other dimension as full of scary, flesh-rending beasties, but otherwise just like here, so he saves points on Life Support. This is the CN "psycho killer" Barbarian, the Shadowrun character that needed a cortex bomb to prevent them from blowing the party up on a lark. Be very, very careful. (Also, unless you have, say, The Catholic Church running around exorcising demons, or a bunch of prominent Divinely Powered superheroes, "Divine Power" is NOT Common enough SFX in my opinion. I had a character with a Shadow Form build effected by Light, Lasers, and Magic SFX. Just something else on the pile.)

Re: Marciano's Twelve Sisters Very nicely done- Feburary is probably one of the hardest, and I like the build. I also like the set-package you've made for them- really covers the commando aspect.

Re: Burn, Freeze, Paralyze & Poison Don't forget a linked Drain STR in Burn- it also cuts the physical Attack stat in half when in effect. Also, Toxic doubles, while Poison is the same 12.5% of Max HP each turn. For the former, I'd think use a big old NND, (Defense: Poison Type) with Gradual Effect scaled to simulate it only kicking in for stages. Alternatively, a Drain Stun might simulate it better. Regular Poison is probably simplest as a continuous uncontrolled attack, with a limitation to cap its damage per turn.

Re: The Uber-Blast This is... really cool. I may be totally stealing this.

Re: Bleach-anime Oh, Yachiru. She has a Ryoga-level bad sense of direction, and yet, for some reason EVERYONE LISTENS TO HER. I blame a Cumulative Mind Control, only for making you go the wrong way.

Re: How would you write up this power. Well, sometimes the underlying limits change alot more significantly- Like losing or gaining Foci (Byakuya, Renji, Uohana's summon) or adding an EC worth of seperate powers (Hitsugaya, Ikkaku) in addition to locking out the old format. It also has a seperate advantage of being able to make limits like, dropping out of Ban Kai when END runs out, or no REC to END in Ban Kai.

Re: How would you write up this power. To provide some background to the crowd, in general, Bleach Shinigami have 3 levels of power- simply using the sword, an initial release, which changes the blade somehow and can allow for special techinques, and Bankai, a dramatically more powerful special release. The initial release almost universally requires incantations- calling out the sword's name, occasionally with gestures. Ban Kai are much more dramatic, and can be practically anything. Most initial releases I can think of in canon would probably be best represented with a multipower of attacks with a -1/4 or -1/2 limitation "Initial Release", combining the obvious change in sword, the resulting spiritual noise, Lockout when using Ban Kai, and so forth. Ban Kai... Might be justifiable as a multiform, frankly. Almost all Bankai have dramatic changes in attributes, sometimes with significant detrimental side effects(Like Byakuya, a swordsman who's blade vanishes entirely into a swarm of razor-edged cherry blossom-like blades that flies around at his command). I'll try and edit in a couple of examples if I get the chance. The problem, points-wise, is that some of these would love to be built as basically stacking frameworks, and since that's bad juju, the "normal way" is extremely pricey. It's why Multiform seems easier than buying a bunch of limited attributes with linked theoretical side effects.

Re: Why would I put Fast Draw on a superheroic character? Any combat gadgeteer worth his salt wants to be able to pull his Exostatic Conversion Matrix Projector (version 3) out from his bag of gear without spending a half phase to root around for it.

Re: [Pet Project] Persona HERO I've been thinking of doing writeups for the main playable characters of Persona 3 as best I can- the only things I'm having trouble with are point range (Leaning toward somewhere around 150-200) and if Persona actually effect physical attributes (With some sort of OIHID limit to symbolize them only working in the dark hour." I'm pretty sure Evokers, and thus actual Persona summons, don't work outside the Dark Hour, but I'm not sure if their actual STR and DEX and things should change. To elaborate, there's two ways to view the strength of the average Shadow. 1- an elite police square or equivalent firepower could storm Tartarus (Barring physically immune Shadows), but it's the fact that they don't have Persona, and these kids DO, that gives them the chance to fight. The Shadows themselves are not that far beyond giving a human a good fight, one on one. 2-These things are superhumanly powerful, and it's only the increase in ability that Persona enable that allows these kids, or, indeed anybody, to fight back. This would justify increasing their physical statistics with a "Only During the Dark Hour" limit.

Re: [Pet Project] Persona HERO Currently some time in September in the game, enjoying it greatly, and was happy to see this topic rise back up! As for unique mechanics... only the main has access to the Velvet Room and persona switching, which I imagine must be pretty freaky for the other members of the team (Mitsuru, the leader changed his mind again...). Adding Evokers (Basically giving all Persona powers OAF) would be very interesting in some settings, especially ones where they fight outside the Dark Hour- Kind of a Teen Champions sort of pressure if they're caught in a dangerous situation without the ability to use their Persona. Other than that, I'm hard-pressed to think of something in P3 that hasn't already been covered.

Re: "Slow Poke" BoECV Entangles that dissolve in a couple of phases? "Can't...Move...Body..."

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... From the AnimeNEXT LARP this past weekend. James of Team Rocket: "Will everyone please stop grabbing my balls?" Nara Shikamaru, at the challenges of the High Fey Court (Yes, the fairies came to town.) "I Shadow-bind the ham!" More as I think of them. It was a pretty wacky weekend.

Re: [Character] Hayate the Combat Butler It's from an anime running now, "Hayate no Gotoku!" Sending the HDC off to you now.

Re: [Character] Hayate the Combat Butler Doh! I'll fix that in a bit.

Hayate Ayasaki (Hayate the Combat Butler!) Val Char Cost 18 STR 8 23 DEX 39 25 CON 30 18 BODY 16 10 INT 0 20 EGO 20 10 PRE 0 14 COM 2 7 PD 3 5 ED 0 4 SPD 7 9 REC 0 50 END 0 40 STUN 0 9" RUN 6 3" SWIM 1 9 1/2" LEAP 0 Characteristics Cost: 134 Cost Power END 14 Anime Leaping: Leaping +4" (7 1/2" forward, 3 1/2" upward) (Accurate, x4 Noncombat) 1 13 Butler Punch!: Hand-To-Hand Attack +4d6 (20 Active Points); Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/2) 2 4 Quick Recovery: Healing 1 BODY (10 Active Points); Extra Time (Regeneration-Only) 1 Turn (Post-Segment 12) (-1 1/4) 1 30 Nigh Indestructable: Energy Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50% 30 No, Really, Nigh Indestructable: Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50% Powers Cost: 91 Cost Skill 3 Breakfall 14- 6 WF: Common Melee Weapons, Common Missile Weapons, Small Arms 3 Acrobatics 14- 32 +4 with All Combat 10 Defense Maneuver I-IV 3 Combat Driving 14- 3 Jack of All Trades 1 1) PS: Animation Cell Inker (2 Active Points) 11- 1 2) PS: Assorted Other Things (2 Active Points) 11- 1 3) PS: Bike Messenger (2 Active Points) 11- 3 4) PS: Butler (4 Active Points) 13- 1 5) PS: Janitor (2 Active Points) 11- 1 6) PS: More Assorted Job Skills (2 Active Points) 11- 1 7) PS: Road Worker (2 Active Points) 11- 0 TF: Two-Wheeled Muscle-Powered Ground Vehicles Skills Cost: 69 Cost Perk 9 Contact (Contact has access to major institutions, Contact has significant Contacts of his own, Contact has: extremely useful Skills or resources, Good relationship with Contact) 12- 4 Contact (Contact has: useful Skills or resources, Good relationship with Contact) 11- Perks Cost: 13 Cost Talent 18 Combat Luck (9 PD/9 ED) Talents Cost: 18 Total Character Cost: 325 Val Disadvantages 25 Unluck: 5d6 10 Money: Destitute 5 Social Limitation: Poor Face (Frequently, Minor, Not Limiting In Some Cultures) 15 Psychological Limitation: Kind and Helpful (Common, Strong) 10 Hunted: Parents' Debt Collectors 8- (As Pow, Harshly Punish) 20 Psychological Limitation: Protect and Serve as Nagi's Butler (Common, Total) 20 Psychological Limitation: Hard Work Pays Off in the End! (Very Common, Strong) 20 Hunted: Head Butler Klaus 14- (Mo Pow, NCI, Watching) 15 Dependent NPC: Nagi Sanzenin 14- (Normal; Useful Noncombat Position or Skills) Disadvantage Points: 140 Description: Hayate is about 5'6'', kind of scrawny, with pale blue hair. He is often seen wearing a black suit with a white shirt and red tie. History: Hayate cannot seem to catch a break. His father was a slacker and his mother a compulsive "investor", with him being barely responsible enough for the entire family. Eventually one fateful holiday, his parents vanished, leaving him a present- a 156,804,000 yen debt to the Yakuza. (About 1.3 million dollars) Through a series of events and misinterpretations, he ends up saving Sanzenin Nagi, a young girl who's the lone heir to the Sanzenin corporate empire, from being kidnapped for ransom. In return, Nagi ends up paying off his debt- and Hayate serves as her butler instead. Notes: Yes, he's a 325 point butler without High Society. Yes, he has 5d6 Unluck. That's just the kind of guy Hayate is. His PS skills reflect various odd jobs he had all through middle and high school. He would bluff about his age to get them, and usually be lauded by his bosses- until his debt-ridden parents came, collected his paycheck "For him", and blew his cover, causing him to get fired. I've only been watching the anime, so this is based on what's been revealed so far. he probably has a bunch more. His Soc. Lim reflects that to people in the upper-crust circles he's regularly involved in as Nagi's butler, every just seems to be able to tell he's dirt poor at a glance, and treat him with a resulting dash of disdain. Normal people seem to not notice or care, though. Klaus keeps an eagle eye on Hayate, and is just waiting for an excuse to fire him. Any time a new challenge arises, Klaus always seems to pop up and add the increased pressure that, should Hayate fail, it'll mean his job as well. Yes, Nagi is both a DNPC and a Contact for about the same points. I didn't really have another clean way of doing it- frankly the bulk of his existence is focused on her. Without Nagi he'd probably be dead, and he'd certainly be homeless. As for why CSLs instead of some kind of martial art, Hayate seems to function on just naturally good reflexes instead of training.

Re: Denno Coil: Kids, Cyberspace and Suprpsing Darkness It's worth noting that partial or complete damage to your Data Self results in the immediate automatic download of some extremely expensive auto-restore software- the more damage, the more expensive it is. And considering how nigh-universal cyber gear is, especially among children, you might WISH you were dead if your parents put a stop on your account because they can't afford to restore it. If I were translating it into Hero, I would think the "Cyber Effect Only" limitation would probably cap at -1/4, maybe -1/2 tops, because literally, that is where the action is. The tricky thing is determining what people's Cyber-durability is. Based on what they buy? A mental stat?

Re: New Skill(?): Investigate I'm surprised no one's mentioned Concealment yet as part of a detective package- the same skill that's used to hide things is used to spot those hidden things.

Re: Did I do this right? I was trying to think of an SFX that would work on a +4 Aid. The only one I could think of was something off a Cosmic/Fate manipulation SFX-a truly legendary sort of Bard Song, for example, pronouncing someone the Main Character in Reality, and thus slightly cooler in every respect.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Funnier without excessive context- Teen Champions game, vs. Teleios and goons, party is in full retreat. "Look, next phase he can just non-combat move to the toilet."

Re: What was your best plot twist In the Mekton Zeta game I ran, which took place in a combination military space station/Research facility/Ender's Game Lite Battle School, where the PCs were all students in the same training squad, I introduced early on Dr. Falcone- Brilliant, secretive head of the research wing of the station. He always seemed to be around, PCs overhearing enigmatic things from him, or, in rare situations, him mentioning something offhand before walking away, lab coat billowing dramatically. The coup de grace being him having white hair, glasses, and high Attractiveness, in an anime game. Apparently the cliche was stronger than I thought, since the party was absolutely, utterly, and totally convinced he was the big scary arch-villain, running a shadowy organization to use the students for his own ends. Sure enough, that Shadowy Organization attacks the space station, scuttling it. The PCs are making a disorganized dash through the station, evading enemy commandos while trying to make it to the escape pods. Me: "You open the final door, and Dr. Falcone is standing there, looking as smug as usual." *cue PC groans of "we're doomed"* Me: He steps up to the group, away from the escape pods. "Get going. I've already set up your landing trajectory away from standard. It should buy you time." At this point, the PCs were stumped. They stood there debating for a couple of minutes amongst themselves. Me: One of the black suited commandos busts in through the door you came through, gun at the ready. *initiative dice clatter, muttering, people holding actions* Falcone walks calmly up to the guard, hands raised in surrender, and roundhouse kicks him in the head. He crumples like a sack of rice." You'd think this would get them to make some sort of decision, but nooooo. It took another trio of commandos coming in to finally get them to use the escape pods. Of course, the good doctor was doing all his research to fight a potential alien menace. I don't think the group ever really trusted him until he gave them state-of-the-art custom Mecha when they returned to space. Giant Robots make everything better.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Every time I read about this campaign I applaud a bit- it sounds utterly kickass. Also amazing job on the spells, by the way!

Re: Make everyone fight at your level... a heroic fighter in a supers world. I think this is a pretty interesting concept. I was thinking you could do it from the other direction- Buy Armor/Mental Defense/Power Defense, IPE, Limited Only Against Superhuman/Supertech powers. You fire an energy beam at him, and it harmlessly washes over him. Pick up a baseball bat, and now he starts fighting. The problems with this are firstly, movement powers and the aformentioned speed, which might be better done with a Uncontrollable HtH drain-type mechanic- you fly around, but once he grabs you, suddenly you're grounded. The other problem is when the brick picks up a truck and hits you with it instead. Still needs some refinement or Handwavium on the limitation. Conversely, lose the IPE and make it a Force Field, 0 End, possibly Persistent, again limited Only Against Powers. This exaggerates the mental image I've been getting of a "nullified field" in which powers have no effect.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... An old group of mine had one of those recurring bars- in a fit of pique, the GM had named it The Lusty Penguin. The funny thing is this bar worked its way into every subsequent game, like Shadowrun, or most humorously, Legend of the Five Rings. They even had a slogan, there- "From the Burning Sands to the Shadowlands, it's the Lusty Penguin!"

Re: Lyrical Nanoha The way I was planning on modeling the Velka-type devices, as they're introduced as in A's, is basically having people with those options on their weapons buy up the slots of their Multipowers beyond the actual reserve. Then, they'd have have a Standard Effect Aid lasting a turn, with a certain number of charges for boosting up the Multipower reserve. They can fire off as many shots as they want, up to the cap of the multi-slot's "maximum power". Its worth noting that some of the series background distinguishes between "Velka" and "Milchilda" magic as two different types. The Velka-type weapons seem to be less versatile, but with the potential for greater direct power that comes from the boosting charges. Subaru happens to be a "Modern-Velka" type mage, whereas Tia is a Milchilda type. Nanoha and Fate are basically cheating the system a bit- they're Milchilda type mages who've had their Devices retrofitted with Velka-type attachments. It migh thave something to do with the fact that their devices have onboard AIs to manage the differences? Point is, not the sort of thing you'd allow PCs.