The_Patriot

Re: Firing rates of semi-auto&bolt action All of the bolt action rifles from Dark Champions and the Equipment Guide fire at the same rate of fire as the semi-autos. A typical semi-auto can conceivably fire up to 10 rounds per second for one that has a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute. Taking into account that the human finger can't pull the trigger that fast 1 round per phase is pretty reasonable. Compare this with the Remington Model 700 bolt action rifle. The rate of fire is determined by how fast the firer can work the action. For someone that is well trained on the weapon they could cycle 1 round in a second, so the firing pattern would be fire, cycle bolt, fire, cycle bolt for a normal human with a Speed of 4. It's just something I noticed when designing firearms for my book. How would people build a bolt action rifle to reflect the firing pattern?

Something odd I've found in my years of playing Hero System is that there is mechanically no difference between semi-auto and bolt action weapons. A semi-auto weapon cycles a round in tenths of a second while a bolt action requires a minimum of a second to chamber a round (provided the shooter is well trained with the weapon). Anyone else find this odd that the weapon write ups fail to reflect this?

Re: Confedrate Comics @Lawnmowerboy: It's called a citation and not an edit. I cited a source that was alive during the time the original poster had questions about. A citation is a regularly used occurrence within the academic world. A citation means a passage quoted while edit means to expunge or to eliminate. Since the cited passage occurs after I linked the letter proves it was a citation and not an edit. So much for your claims of it being an edit. I linked Northern Exclusion of Blacks to highlight a point I stated which was, "You'll find that the north was even worse in their treatment of minorities than the south ever was. " It wasn't deflection, but further highlighting how things really were. In fact I stated the conditions of minorities in both regions as a comparison. Where's your outrage against the north for performing crimes against humanity towards minorities? I see nothing of the sort from your statements which indicates to me that you are blinded by hatred towards a specific region of the United States. I have tried to handle this issue with delicacy and civility while you have been rude and trolling. As such this is my final reply to you.

Re: Online RPG character generator from Champions online? Well if you have an account in the MMO all you have to do is hit Prt Scr then paste it into a blank paint* file that you have sized to the screen size of the game. *You can use any graphics program for this, but Paint is free with Windows.

Re: Confedrate Comics I never edited his quote. I quoted what was pertainent to the conversation and gave the full letter for review. There was no removal of any words by myself. It's only irrelevant to your tirade against historical facts. You citing a biased historian is irrelevant to the discussion at hand since he didn't live through the events as described from first hand accounts like Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America written in the 1820's. The thing is that you harping over my quote and not touching what I said in relation to the quote which I find hilarious. Immediately preceding the quote from Robert E. Lee I said, "To better understand the people of the Antebellum South I'd recommend you read a letter that Robert E. Lee wrote to his wife in the 1856 since he expresses the majority feeling towards blacks at that time." I placed the full letter before I quoted the section regarding slavery. Lee calls slavery an immoral and evil institution with the majority of southerners agreeing with his view. Your own statements regarding the decline of slavery in the 1820's to 1830's highlights this fact. If you wish to focus on the remaining part of the letter while turning focus away from my statement that's up to you. Don't go on a witch hunt against me for making a statement backed by someone that was alive at the time regarding how the south really was. However before you get all indignant about the south maybe you should learn about how the north really was prior to the war and its end. You'll find that the north was even worse in their treatment of minorities than the south ever was.

Re: Confedrate Comics I never edited his quote. If you look at what I wrote you can see I linked the letter in its entirity. The rest of your statement isn't worth even arguing about especially when you throw around terms like Neo-Confederates etc... I also loved how you toss out a book written by someone that wasn't even alive when the Antebellum south was around as proof of your argument. At least I gave you a book written by someone that witnessed things first hand and he had no ponies in slavery. However, the reason why there were more blacks in the south was because almost all northern states had made it illegal for blacks to live in their borders and that a freed black person could be sold into slavery in the south. This is the last thing I will say about the subject.

Re: Confedrate Comics Wikipedia is hardly a reliable source. You may think me to be a bad historian for handling a touchy subject with delicate gloves and that I'm defending human rights abuses. That isn't the case and I did link the entire letter which the entire quote is published. I prefer primary source documentation like the book Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville written in the 1820's when dealing with this subject. My original post was to get the original poster to do some actual research instead of going with biased fairy tales against the south bandied about as real history of the south. Care to explain for the entire board why roughly 95% of slaves of all races were owned by less than 10% of the southern population between 1790 and 1865?

Re: Confedrate Comics Speaking from a historian's point of view, there was discrimination in the south prior to end of the war. It was normal in both sections of the US for non-whites to be discriminated against. However, it was only in the north that there were major penalties both civilly and criminally against non-whites. This did not exist in the south until after 1865 with the south losing to the north. Also, the Underground Railroad went to Canada not to the northern states since it was a felony for a white person to help a non-white. The laws that were enacted post-1865 to 1875 were done so by the US Army under their jurisdiction with the state governments playing zero role in the governing of the people. Each of the 13 Confederate States was assigned to a special military district with the western territories bordering Missouri and southward being under the Trans-Mississippi Department. There's much more I could add from the 25+ years I've been studying American History circa 1610-1875 with primary source documentation to this subject. To better understand the people of the Antebellum South I'd recommend you read a letter that Robert E. Lee wrote to his wife in the 1856 since he expresses the majority feeling towards blacks at that time. Here's a small snippet of what he wrote, "There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil. It is idle to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think it is a greater evil to the white than to the colored race. While my feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf of the latter, my sympathies are more deeply engaged for the former. The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, physically, and socially." Keep in mind that Lee never owned a single slave and found the practice to be repugnant to him.

Re: Inceptum Terminus: You Decide the Fate! Thank you to everyone and their suggestions. You've been a great help and I appreciate it.

Re: LCSB Publishing Presents: Timeline of World Events @BB: It's alright bud and take your time. I hope you are doing well. @TQM: I do apologize for your scraping your chin. E-papercuts are the worst. I hope you get better.

Re: Maximus FOR-9 Firefighting RPV Very nice build cat and I like it. /tempted to take RPV

Re: Inceptum Terminus Magick System Updated the first post with the full rules in the hopes of generating a discussion.

Re: Character fiction: Shadows Of Things Past Awesome job on the character and her power/skill set are pretty amazing.

Re: Calypso Aquatic Salvage Armor Nice build BB and it should work really well.

Re: All in the...timing In my opinion it's sequential counted in micro-seconds with roughly 2-3 micro-seconds between the impacts from an autofire attack. The other types you mentioned would also be roughly about the same as autofire. Hero doesn't deal with micro-seconds so it lumps them all as simultaneously within the same phase.

Due to the cluttered nature of the original thread I'll post up the finalized version of the timeline for people to read. Comments and questions are welcome. Timeline of World Events 1945 World War II ends. The US begins support of Chang Kai-shek. 1949 After 4 years of continued US support of Chang Kai-shek, Mao is defeated and China establishes the second Southeast Asian democracy. 1951 US and UN forces land in South Korea to bolster the defense against the North Koreans. 1953 North Korea falls to the UN and US forces after a drawn out invasion of the North. China provides land bases for the UN forces to launch from the northern border while a second front extends along the North and South Korean border. The pro-US South Korean government takes control of the northern section and re-integrates them. November 22, 1963 President Kennedy is shot and killed by an unknown gunman. Lee Harvey Oswald is accused of the murder of the president and is killed to keep the conspiracy going. Vice President Lyndon Johnson becomes president of the United States. 1964 President Johnson initiates the buildup of forces in Vietnam and US involvement is cemented for the next decade. 1968 President Johnson loses to anti-war candidate Thomas Caine and the United States begins the final phases of the invasion of North Vietnam. 1972 President Caine presides over the meeting with the Soviet Union and begins the long process of friendship with the communist nation. Terrorism becomes a tool by criminal organizations that are politically motivated starting with the Munich Games massacre. 1973 US troops conquer North Vietnam and unite the county for the first time in 20 years. Vietnam is established as another democracy in the region. Bombings by various terrorist groups occur throughout Europe and escalate as the years pass. A plague spreads through the populations of the American Indians finally extinguishing their light from the United States and Canada. 1974 President Caine is indicted on several charges concerning the break in of the Watergate building and resigns. Vice President Jerry Davis becomes the next president. In a black op deal, President Davis sponsors several terrorist groups in the world to help destabilize countries that are deemed enemies to the United States. The United States government seizes all of the former land owned by the American Indians and begins exploiting their mineral resources. 1975 President Davis watches as the US economy collapses due to the removal of the United States from the gold standard. Bolstered by the European nations the US dollar begins the slow climb back to being a wanted world currency. 1976 Early experiments with cybernetics provide useful insights into the human body and spirit. President Davis loses the election to an unknown Senator from Rhode Island. Senator James Ross becomes president of the United States. 1977 President Ross upsets the OPEC nations and a national embargo is placed on the United States. Unemployment hits record numbers and food lines become a standard feature in most cities. Yugoslavia seizes the US diplomat and US citizens from the embassy in Belgrade. Early personal computers enter into the marketplace and the computer age officially begins. 1980 Governor Bob Dixon is elected as the 41st President of the United States and makes peace with OPEC to get the oil flowing. Yugoslavia frees the diplomats under the threat of violence from the US. Over the next four years, the economy begins to regroup as people are put back to work. 1982 The Berlin Wall falls as East and West Berlin merge for the first time since WWII. Northern Irish terrorists target Britain in the hopes of gaining independence. 1984 Dixon is re-elected as president and further builds on the rapidly thawing relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. Scientists discover the reason behind their failures with merging cybernetics and human flesh due to the spiritual aspect of man rejecting the cold metal. 1985 East and West Germany unite amid the backdrop of the Soviet Union ceasing to exist. It is replaced with the Russian Confederation and joins NATO. The United States and the Russian Confederation begin a joint partnership in order to explore space and put Olympus Station into orbit. 1987 The joint space mission launches the first manned spaceflight to the moon in almost 20 years. Plans are unveiled for colonization of the moon under the auspices of the United States, European Space Agency, and the Russian Confederation. 1988 Steven Jamison is elected President of the United States in a landslide election. The Prometheus Project sits on the pad of Cape Canaveral and the countdown begins to launch. Several terrorist groups detonate explosives and Prometheus explodes in a massive fireball killing all on board. 1989 President Jamison accuses France of covertly siding with the terrorists and gives them free reign within their borders. The remaining European countries look at France warily while Russia and the US face a possible second Cold War due to the bombing. The neural net interface is perfected and sold publicly. Cyberspace is created under the control of individual governments throughout the world. 1990 The Middle East, Europe, Africa, and South America erupt into violence as terrorists come out of the shadows to launch devastating attacks upon the civilian population. The United States, Russian Confederation, and NATO launch medical relief missions throughout the affected countries. 1992 Simon Dennison becomes the President of the United States in a hotly contested election. China, Vietnam, Korea, and France's space agencies begin a joint program to put a space station in orbit. Olympus Station gets its first garrison of troops from the member nations that built the station. United States and Russian Confederation forces invade Yugoslavia for aiding the terrorists that were responsible for the Prometheus bombing under Operation Vigilant Hawk. 1995 The US and Russia begin the joint development of stealth space fighters and Olympus Station has additional hanger modules added to support the future weapon platforms. Southern Cross Station becomes operational and the first Franco-Asian space fighters are performing Combat Air Patrols to fend off from United States and Russian Confederation's future fighters. Cybernetics is seen for the first time to help the wounded veterans of the Baltic Conflict. 1996 President Dennison is re-elected and promises peace in every area of the world. In order to keep this promise, military recruitment skyrockets after a massive patriotic media campaign and offers of guaranteed citizenship for resident aliens. US forces are deployed to the hot spots around the globe to counter the growth of terrorism. 1998 Terrorist attacks step up around the world and US forces are seen in every major country to help stabilize the local governments. Stealth space fighters are deployed after being over-budget and a tense atmosphere surrounds open space. Local citizens begin to resent the occupation of US and Russian Confederation troops in their countries. 2000 President John Hannah is elected and further expands the reach of the United States military. The US Army crosses the border of Mexico in order to stem the tide of illegal immigrants and the crossing of Mexican troops onto US soil. Canada withdraws from the United States and seals their borders in response to the invasion of Mexico. January 1, 2001 Two terrorist cells detonate high explosive devices in New York City and in Paris which destroys the twin Statues of Liberty. In the aftermath, biological agents are released into the air killing thousands of people nearby. September 9, 2001 Terrorist cells hijack four civilian jetliners and target prominent buildings in the United States. Two of the jetliners hit the Sears Towers and destroys them. The third aircraft impacts into the Capitol Building causing massive damage. The fourth airliner crashes into the Transcontinental Insurance building in San Francisco Martial Law declared in the US and the state governments are dissolved. NATO dissolved in Europe. The US and her allies invade Afghanistan and Yugoslavia. 2002 The war goes well for the US in Yugoslavia and Romania, Hungary, and Albania sides with the US. Allied space fighters clash in space with Franco-Asian forces. December 31, 2002 terrorist sleeper cells launch attacks with nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons within the allied nations. 2003 Mankind in the United States is pushed to extinction as starvation sets in. Major cities are burnt out ruins. Federal military forces split apart into two factions with one supporting the last orders of the President and the other supports the Constitution of the United States. The corporations begin open warfare between each other. 2004 Marauders push the rest of humanity to the edge of survival. The remainder of humanity huddles in the shadows of the corporations while the Constitutionalist forces throw in with the corporations. The Corporate Wars begin and they consolidate their holdings on their territories. 2010 Most of the marauders are pushed into the wastelands of the United States. People move back into the shells of the cities and fight to reclaim the territories for the corporations. Disease and plagues run rampant through the human population. 2015 Large scale terraforming begins to allow food to be replanted. Cloned animals are released into the wild to restock the native population. 2018 The first crops are brought in and massive efforts by the corporations to feed the population begin. 2022 Many social programs are started to bring humanity back from the brink. Recolonization of the urban areas begins in earnest. 2030 Revitalization of the urban areas continues and the infrastructure is rebuilt. 2034 Nuclear fission reactors are micronized and are placed into vehicles as a fuel source. 2040 The Corporate Wars begins anew as they start attacking the other Corporate States for control. The terraforming of the earth is seventy-five percent complete. Cloned and natural animals interbreed and stronger breeding lines are surviving. 2045 Cyberspace is recreated after the infrastructure in the cities is fully repaired. 2050 The Corporate Wars simmer down to sporadic firefights along the borders and special operations intensifies. Biogenetics has finally succeeded in mapping the human genome. The secret becomes the most sought out information by opposing corporations. 2054 Biogenetics discovers mutations within the human genome. The mutations lead to the creation of the proto-gifted where they have low level abilities that are beyond the human norm. Terraforming is finished with the soil and food production is at a record high. 2055 Proto-gifted appear in greater numbers in the human population. Other corporations begin their own genetic programs and fight with Biogenetics for control over the proto-gifted. 2058 All of the Corporate States launch a media campaign to dehumanize the Gifted within their borders. 2062 A minor golden age follows as humanity begins to prosper and anti-gravity technology is introduced. 2064 New advances in armor technology results in the introduction of new body armor that is completely sealed against the environment. 2069 Power Armor is introduced and has crude thrusters in the feet to allow for greater ground speed. 2070 Marauders strike from the wilderness at the civilized areas and a fighting renews. 2074 The marauders are pushed back into the inhospitable areas. 2080 The remaining Gifted are either rounded up or go into hiding forming the Underground. 2095 After a century of near constant warfare between the Corporate States, delegates meet in a virtual conference and work on a treaty of cooperation between their respective companies. 2097 The CS Economic Trade and Assistance Treaty are signed and a natural monopoly of products is established. The trade between the Corporate States allows them to maintain the status quo and to allow for aggression to still occur against targets that upset the balance. Part of the agreement is the introduction of the Credit backed by precious metals to use for a means of exchange. 2100 The final towers that monitor the movements of the people are activated and strict limits on where a person can go are implemented through the use of implanted microchips. Mitsu-Pan re-establishes the Emperor and the Shogunate system of governance. 2101 Corporate governance and a new status quo are firmly established. Free trade between the various companies is in its infancy. 2110 Holovid technology is invented and becomes an overnight sensation. 2115 The Gifted begin to appear and have greater latent power potential then the proto-gifted had. Biogenetics seizes as many as they can with special operations teams. 2118 The other corporations start their own genetic programs to catch up to what Biogenetics has done. Gifted are declared to be slaves to whichever corporation they happen to live in. 2122 Gifted Control Technology is perfected by Lonestar Development and is freely shared with all the corporations. The technology prevents a Gifted from using their natural powers in any manner. 2123 The Gifted from Biogenetics and Worldwide Motors Corporation clash on the border in the former state of Wisconsin. This marks the first use of Gifted in combat operations. 2135 The walls surrounding Biogenetics, Lonestar Development, Worldwide Motors Corporation, and Dai-HK are completed locking their people inside. 2158 Gateway Consolidated Aerospace manages to contact Olympus Station. No life is found onboard, but the logs are downloaded for future examination. Biogenetics opens the doors to the first concentration camps to hold the Gifted. 2160 Gateway Consolidated Aerospace retrieves the logs from the former space fleet of the United States and Russian Confederation. It will take those twenty-five years to finally decrypt the blueprints stored in the files. 2165 Travers Entertainment Network re-introduces death sport holovid shows to the public. 2173 Combined Annihilation and Eradication Styles Armed Racing or CAESAR is aired for the first time. 2177 Cybernetics makes a leap in technology with the introduction of weapon and armor implants. 2180 The micronized nuclear reactors are designed to prevent a meltdown from occurring when the containment field is breached. 2185 Gateway Consolidated Aerospace finally decrypts the blueprints and begins work on stealth designed aircraft. 2186 Due to the treaty between the Corporate States the Underworld finally establishes the family model of leadership and is run like a business. Deaths in the Underworld drop dramatically as the families work together. 2195 Cybernetic ear and eye implants are introduced to the public to allow a person to see and hear beyond the human limitations. 2200 A man calling himself The Patriot begins to spread his message of freedom. 2202 After two years of intense searching for The Patriot the Corporate States declare him to be a ghost and an urban legend. 2205 Worldwide Motors Corporation releases the first versions of stealth ground vehicles based on the technology it secured from Gateway Consolidated Aerospace. 2210 Gauss and Laser weapons are brought onto the market. 2215 The counter-culture movement gathers steam in the Underground and begins to combat the messages of the Corporate States. 2218 Worldwide Motors Corporation begins a purge of their citizens to find sympathizers to The Patriot and the Children of Liberty. 2225 Gateway Consolidated Aerospace's board in a closed session decides to pursue space and to privately relinquish control of the Trans-Missouri Freehold to The Patriot and the Children of Liberty. The company will still be the face of the Corporate State, but the people will be allowed to control the government. 2226 Trans-Missouri Freehold holds its first elections and the company splits off the government entities from its central organization. The other Corporate States look on uneasy about the turn of events. The new government says it will still adhere to the treaty to sooth fears from the other corporations. Gateway Consolidated Aerospace's gifted team is retained by the company and will not be a part of the government. 2230 Second generation stealth vehicles reach the front lines. 2235 Biogenetics maps out the gifted genome and research into artificial Gifted begins. 2237 Children of Liberty launch a massive propaganda campaign in the other eight Corporate States. 2239 The propaganda campaign is finally squashed by the other corporations. 2244 Gateway Consolidated Aerospace preps the first space mission for launch. Upon exiting the atmosphere the Hyperion is destroyed. 2245 Members of the Underground from the other Corporate States meet in a secure location in Trans-Missouri Freehold and begin the long process of establishing a shadow government. 2248 A new Articles of Confederation are written incorporating many changes to prevent a central government from achieving what the former United States did. In the latter part of the year, the New Confederation government is elected with President James Gaines at the helm. 2249 The Patriot and President Gaines enlist the help of 6 Gifted and name them Inceptum Terminus since they are the first and last hope for freedom in the New Confederation. Congress of the New Confederation has oversight of the team and plans major operations for them. April 22, 2250 Congress of the New Confederation declares war on the Corporate States, but isn't publicized to maintain the balance of power.

Re: Deluxe Edition of The Fantasy Codex in print! Congrats CT on the hard cover and your book in general.

Re: Social effects In other words, you agree with what my statement was about since I said the exact same thing. What I proposed is easier to handle then making people create two different character sheets and tracking both of them. Your method is more complex by the fact it uses dual character sheets while the one I proposed modifies the existing skill rules to give 1d6 for the base skill and 1d6 for every skill level in the skill to generate results on a table similar to the Presence Attacks one. Logically, there needs to have a defense against such attacks and Ego represents it quite well. The only change required is to give every character Mental Defense based upon the existing formula of Ego/5 for the purpose of defending against social attacks. It fits all on 1 character sheet and less record keeping is involved then your method.

Re: Social effects Yeah those Presence Attacks and Normal Combat rules sure are tough to master. The system I proposed uses the existing presence attack rules and combat system that Hero uses.

Re: Social effects Therein lies the rub. It shouldn't require a separate character sheet in order for it to be seamless with the current system. The easiest and most elegant solution is to take the existing framework and build the social combat around it. With minor tweaks to the existing skills, characteristics, talents, perks, and powers a valid social combat system can be built. These minor tweaks are not a full blown rewrite, but rather reworded to follow through with what you want the system to do. An example of a minor tweak is that a character gains 1d6 for knowing the base skill and another 1d6 for every +1 skill level the skill has. Simple and elegant implementation of social combat. EDIT: To further reinforce using the existing system in place have your Social Combat Value based upon Presence and use the same formula that ECV and OCV/DCV uses to determine the base SCV. A character with a presence of 18 would have a SCV of 6. The combat roll to determine if the social attack succeeds or fails would identical to the ones used by CV and ECV which is 11+Offensive Social Combat Value-Defensive Social Combat Value=base to hit roll. If the attack hits roll damage based off of the skill used in the attack using the above formula. The defense that could be used is 1 point of defense for every level in the skill. SECOND EDIT: Picking up from where I left off.... The defense that could be used is 1 point of defense for every level in the skill or use EGO/5 where everyone gets Mental Defense. Social Combat is mental so Mental Defense would apply.

Re: Magic system wanted -- historical magic You might want to look at what I'm doing for my book Inceptum Terminus: Chronicles of the New Confederation since it has Hermetic Theurgy, Voodoo, Shamanism, and Kabbalism. You can read about it here.

Re: Inceptum Terminus Magick System Awesome that you can see the maps. Yup, I understand Gnosticism and other religions. It's amazing how many of them are so similar.

Re: Target Hero - Powershift I'm disappointed since I thought this was a genre book for roleplaying people that work in big box stores...

Re: The Distinctive, The Special, The Cool I don't know who Steve could find that fits those qualifications....

Re: Inceptum Terminus Magick System Added maps to the first post. The first map is how Hermetic Theurgists, Shamans, and Voodooists see the Sephirots. The second map is how Kabbalists view the Sephirots. With the Kabbalist map the yellow is the paths to each plane and the order they can be accessed starting with Earth.