Caped Crusader

"Can only produce effects perpendicular to the force of gravity?"

Not a huge surprise, considering they were written in the 1930's. Those attitudes were much more acceptable back then.

Actually, the tapes I have (at least the episodes I didn't tape myself) were commercially produced, so they don't fall under the "pirated material" category... I think I have three commercially made tapes, although I don't recall the company's name.

I think I have a little more than half of them on tape. You can find them on eBay, but they're spendy...

I would think it'd be much tougher to do against multiple opponents. Taunting a given individual if you know something about his personality flaws is relatively easy. However, unless a group of people has some common thread that can be insulted, it'd be much more difficult to get a rise out of a bunch of people at the same time. Oh, "and your father smells of elderberries!"

As far as Stargate goes... I didn't like it at first, but I started really enjoying Richard Dean Anderson's portrayal of Col Jack O'Neill. Without his character, the show wouldn't be anywhere near as fun.

Yep, the Fox Execs wouldn't know a good show if it crawled up their legs and bit them where it hurts. Showing them out of order, and showing the bloody pilot episode as the series finale was a truly idiotic maneuver. As far as the Slugthrowers, the best reasoning I've seen for them being there is that you don't need a serious technological base to construct them. Lasers require a lot of infrastructure to create the technological base needed to build them. Of course, their six-shooters looked like they had a lot more than six chambers in them... I read today that the movie is inching forward, and they're looking to start filming later this spring.

Great Show!

Don't forget Stanley Beamish (Mr. Terrific)! (Though, how he managed to swallow those damn golf balls is anybody's guess...) Now, songs... When you find youself in danger, When you're threatened by a stranger, When it looks like you will take a lickin', (bock, bock, bock, bock) There is someone waiting, Who will hurry up and rescue you, just Call for Super Chicken! Come to think of it, he was into Super Sauce, which might be contrued as a drug...

Actually, Z, the levels of Armor Piercing on the Teleport get around (through?) that Teleport Block...

Reinkampfkunst, then...

KA... As far as the grappling hook analogy, I can think of several ways right off-hand that would get past that and make it unusable. The grappling hook idea sounds like it would work only in very specific circumstances. So, no, he wouldn't *always* get the gun back. The main reason I added the T-Port was because the mechanics of Entangles only leave a couple of ways of getting free, and entangles are relatively common. As others have pointed out, there a number of ways this escape can be thwarted. Also, I can think of several instances right off-hand in the genre where both heroes and villains have set up small escape-clause powers to cover obvious vulnerabilities such as this. Do I need to narrow the scope of the trigger?

Just to add spice to the discussion.... My character (Spellbinder) is the one Kzinbane is referring to. It's a 0-END teleport (95% of his spells are 0-END), only moves 1", and has Safe Blind T-Port and Armor Piercing (several levels) on it. It's also only usable against Entangles or bindings. It's not part of the VPP slots allotment, it's a stand-alone power, and it's also the only spell he knows that doesn't require gestures and incantations. The trigger is worded "Trigger when he is Entangled or otherwise bound". No, it wouldn't stop any kind of Silence (this would eliminate the Incantations, thus disabling him), and there are number of other ways around it. (I certainly won't list the ways I've thought of. I've already come up with several. He doesn't need my help!) In my own defense, I know it'll only work once or twice before the bad guys figure it out and find a way around it. (Kzinbane is very devious. Think of Dr Doom without the stainless steel threads). It's a reasonable precaution seeing how every power the guy has (except the t-port itself) uses both gestures and incantations. He has normal 10 strength, so it's basically the only way he's going to escape an Entangle. Originally, I had it pump up his STR to enable him to have a better chance of breaking out, but changed to a teleport because I liked the effect better. Rather than a game-rule dodge, I think of it as a reasonable thinking-ahead kind of defense a smart spellcaster would use. I mean, seriously, the guy waving his arms and intoning spells is a pretty obvious target for that kind of thing. OK, I'll put it to you folks. How else does a 10-STR character escape an Entangle, if none of his other powers function? Seeing as Entangles are only susceptible to either a Teleport or doing damage to it, without something like this, 1 Entangle and he's completely out of the fight and at the mercy of the bad guys.

Well, Kampfkunst translates as martial arts. Nahkampf is close combat or hand-to-hand combat. Handgemenge is hand-to-hand fighting. Gefechtsausbildung is combat training. BlitzenFaust would be lightning fist. KriegFaust would be War Fist.

How about this... Energy Blast, Continuous, Reduced Endurance (0 END), No Knockback, Beam, with a Limitation of 'Only does damage at a rate of 1d per 1" of target movement (-2)' ? The 0 END is added because otherwise it costs a boatload of endurance to run. Damage.........Active Cost...........Real Cost 25D.....................312....................89 20D.....................250....................71 15D.....................187....................53 10D.....................125....................36

:: grin :: Just wanted to give an example of how it can go too far...

You have to be careful, though. In GURPS, Eidetic Memory can be extremely unbalancing to a game. In that system, it makes all points spent on Mental skills worth more (either x2 or x4, depending on the level bought - level 1 costs 30 points and level 2 costs 60 points). In a campaign where there are going to be 100 experience points received throughout the game, a character with this Advantage who spends 75% of his experience points on Mental Skills has the equivalent of 175-xp for a 30-pt investment or 325-xp for a 60-pt investment. Even spending only 50% of the Experience on Mental Skills yields 150-xp (for 30 pts spent) or 250-xp (for 60 pts spent). The longer a campaign is, the more unbalancing it can be.

Good read, except that I would think Wolvie would have a higher DEX than 18, and maybe a 6 SPD...

Howzabout a visual aid?

The first character I played in a campaign was named Recoil. He was able to manipulate Intertia. Hell on wheels in a hand-to-hand fight. I still have the character sheet. He's now an NPC in my campaign world as the leader of the L.A. Supergroup "Force Five". In fact, I converted him to 5th Edition recently.

I was at a Star Trek convention in '82 (before ST:TNG) and my friend and I were walking through the Dealer's Room. There was a dark-haired lady sitting behind a table with nothing on it to sell. We got three steps past the table when my friend stopped and said "Hey, isn't that Majel Barrett?" (For the uninitiated, that'd be Mrs. Gene Roddenberry, Luwaxana Troy, Nurse Chapel, the voice of the ST:TNG computer, Number One from The Menagerie/The Cage...) Turned out she was there to sign autographs, and because she wasn't wearing the platinum beehive wig she wore as Nurse Chapel, no one recognized her. We sat and talked with her for a good 45 minutes, and no one else even looked at her twice. So sometimes, all it takes is a change of hair...

It's from an article I read a few years back that went into detail about how the design of most Superhero costumes tended to amplify physical characteristics. It used Superman as a prime example. Loud, primary colors. The insignia on the chest (both size and shape) making the shoulders appear wider. The cape to make the silhouette appear larger. Like when they say "If you run into a cougar in the wild, try to make yourself appear as large as possible". All designed to make the person wearing it look as big as possible, and draw the eye away from the person's face. I actually don't recall the source of the article, it's been a while since I read it. I got to thinking about it as I was reading "The Power Of Cosutmes" thread. Anyone else read that one?

True Story: In New York a bunch of years ago, a couple of cops set up a bit where they weakened the frame of a steel door, and one of them took the next opportunity to chase a crook into the hallway where they'd done this. His partner was on the other side of the door in a Superman outfit. When the crook got close, ol' Supes knocked the door out of the frame, stepped into the hallway and demanded that the crook surrender. The crook did so immediately. When it went to trial, the crook claimed that Superman had stopped him. When the cops told their side of the story in court, the crook claimed they were lying. According to him, the cop in question didn't look a thing like the Superman that stopped him. He was so focused on the outfit that he couldn't recognize the cop.

I still have my set of Cardboard Heroes figures from the 4th Edition GM screen, plus the older version from SJG. Added to that, I either generate JPG's with a screen capture from Hero Machine or scan my own drawings and reduce them down to the correct size (1 1/4" tall) and make my own cardboard figures. Inexpensive, and easy to make many copies of henchmen, minions and such. It's great to have the actual character picture on the figure.

I'm curious... Most powers that take extra time to activate have a graduated set of limitation levels from an extra phase up to days, months, and years - ranging to -4 for a day and up. Why is is that VPP's jump from a full phase with a skill roll in combat and between a turn and a minute out of combat, to between adventures (takes days) for only -1/2? I see in the FAQ where it's said that the GM can allow a lesser limitation (-1/4) for "takes hours". It just seems like a heck of a jump to me.