Ockham's Spoon

I feel like this every time I have to call Comcast

Because Superman never had enough Complications to pay for all those powers:

Coyote Waits by Tony Hillerman. Murder mystery set in New Mexico, exploring the culture and landscape there, esp. Navajo mythology. Good characters interacting in a plot that is complex enough not to be immediately obvious but not so convoluted that it becomes contrived. Definitely recommend it.

From Tom Cheney:

Much of the bonus I would consider situational; if the character just finished adventuring in the sewers, there are going to be some negative modifiers, while if they just got dressed up for a hot date there would be some positive modifiers. On the other hand, there are some people who look just fine without makeup who would receive little to no bonus, while for others makeup can be transformative. It is people in this latter camp that I would see buying a power like this, most especially in a supers campaign as part of a Secret ID (not unlike Clark Kent's transformative glasses).

I had an alchemist in a fantasy campaign at one point who sold "magic make-up' which boosted a person's COM. I was revisiting that character for 6e and so would substitute Striking Appearance for an Aid to COM. The power looks something like this: Magic Makeup: +4d6 Striking Appearance (12pts), OIF- makeup (-½), Full Minute to apply (-2), 0 DCV Concentration while applying (-½), 1 Charge last 5 hours (-0), Real cost: 3pts This got me thinking though, how much Striking Appearance could a character buy using just off-the-shelf cosmetics? Hollywood is famous for transforming plain people into glamorous ones, so I feel like there is something there, but what level of Striking Appearance would you allow? I think a Hollywood makeup artist could probably achieve better results than the average person, but they would also probably have to make a Disguise skill roll or something similar. Any thoughts on how you would approach this?

I wouldn't consider this as a Martial Arts package per se, but as a guideline in combat when a player wants to do something different in combat. For instance, the Flying Tackle is a classic manuever that isn't really covered in standard manuevers so it is useful to be able to assign some OCV & DCV penalties to it. I think anything that encourages creativity in combat is probably a good thing. I could also see using these manuevers for martial artists who didn't have enough points to get all the manuevers they wanted in their martial arts package. They might be familiar with a Crush manuever but they aren't skilled enough to perform it well. I might also let character buy a Familiarity with Martial Arts so they can use these manuevers, with the eventuality that they will purchase a full martial arts package when they have the points.

The big advantage a fantasy setting has over a superhero setting is simplicity. Modern life is complicated, add super tech and it becomes even more so. Fantasy settings are in a simpler time which makes it easier to imagine and easier to craft stories for, and if you even need to invoke deus ex machina you just call it magic. Culturally, fantasy settings have existed for thousands of years, much of that time as a 'real' part of the world, while superheroes have always existed in a parallel universe which is harder to conceive. Both settings can tell great stories, but the bar is higher for superheroes. I think another reason that the popularity of superhero movies doesn't translate into RPG interest is that superhero movies typically have the same cast of characters (multiple reboots of Spiderman, Batman, & Superman for instance). That makes the universe seem closed - the only heroes available have already been laid out. (The mutants in the X-men would be something of an exception, but even the core X-men are relatively fixed). Conversely, there are lots of different fantasy settings and characters so you could more easily imagine a character that is unique to you and not predefined.

A new addition to the Bestiary? From Roz Chast

Some Statistics (credit Demetri Martin): 99.99% of all castles in America are located in fish tanks. 100% of the people who give 110% do not understand math. The average person will eat more than 25 pounds of meat if offered enough money to do it. The unicycle is the most effective form of birth control in the world. Nearly half of all people in the United States are torsos. If you stretched the average person's intestines out from end to end, it would make them scream a lot. You are 10 times more likely to get hit by a car when the driver is aiming for you.

Fairy Tale mash-up:

This is an old one, but since Grumpy Cat just recently passed, it seem justified: