David Johnston

Re: An Amusing Character Thread Of course designing a plot device like that was merely an exercise in refamiliarising myself with character design, something I haven't done for a long time and not with the new rules. I'm not sure about the concept anyway. Maybe it would work better to give them human alter-egos. Now as for the other muses, I was thinking: Erato: Muse of love poetry. Can probe your mind, evaluate who your best fit for a perfect match is, and put you in an amorous mood. Clio: Muse of history. Can transport people into periods of the past, or summon historical figures to the present. Euterpe: Muse of music. Images (to create music from nothing), Area Mind Control (to change people's mood to match that set by the music) Terpsichore (Kory): Muse of dance. Martial artist, with huge defensive levels because of an ability to predict how others will move. Thalia: Muse of comedy. Can incapacitate people with laughter. (Her jokes are mind blasts). Can create props for physical comedy. Melpomene: Muse of tragedy. Can probe people's minds for the their most painful moments and then make them or others re-experience them. Polyhymnia: Muse of sacred poetry. Can Aid people who pray. Maybe a blast that only works on creatures vulnerable to holy magic? Urania: Muse of astronomy. Gee that's a tough one. Telescopic vision doesn't seem to quite measure up to the others no matter how much of it you get. Maybe megascale teleportation? But can that take someone from one planet and put them down safely on another?

Re: Looking at the Universe Timeline Not really any of that. The thought just occured to me that if they had planets filled with the more comic booky superpowers like the Legion's one power per planet, or the bus pressing Kree, or even the old green Martians from DC, as I'd expect from a comic book universe then you run into a problem when you pass out of the comic book genre since the human explorers of the later time periods would be expected to run into those worlds instead of the more sfnal superpowers of Ythri and Vulcans. This caused me to wonder if the reason why Firewing was given a radiation accident origin in his second go round and Obsidian was replaced with someone who wasn't a fairly typical, if fitter than average member of his species. Personally I had always imagined Malvan as Attilan writ large, with a native upperclass of people with individual superhuman powers and an underclass of "lesser" species who had been imported as slaves. But obviously theres no way what I imagined would fit into this Alien Wars genre I read about in the timeline. Way too comic-booky.

Re: Thoughts on Autofire - what am I Missing? Of course another consideration is that nobody has ever made any real armour that can be worn by a human which has no activation roll or unarmoured areas. They all have places where they need to be allowed to bend and therefore the protection has to be less there than it is elsewhere.

Re: Would Stargate SG-1 work in a Marvel Universe?

Re: Evaluating The Hero System (Or Any Game System) What I have tried and failed to do is capture the GURPS magic system in Hero. Maybe the way to go about that is to give mages a variable power pool with the limitation "Must find a book or make an spell invention roll to add a new possible power". But even then you don't have the kind of gradual ascent where because you've mastered "Ignite Fire" now you can move on to "Shape Fire", and once you've mastered that, you can move on to "Fireball" that really gives me the feeling that magic is more about what you know than what you can do.

Re: A very strange build for critiquing. Yes, it's wrong to give it life support for free. Being dependant on it's wielder is it's own set of disadvantages (Physical Disad: can't walk, no hands, can't talk,). But those disadvantages don't obviate the advantage the sword has that it won't be killed by that gas, or infected by that plague. If it loses it's victim, it can usually get another one easily enough. But it is much more important to me to point out the obvious. Did you in fact intend to have Mr. Condemned Prisoner carrying a sword almost as big and probably a bit heavier than he is?

Re: Anyone combine Champs with Call of Cuthulu? Probably not. He was only with her for a few years before moving back home and writing a story about how all those foreigners in New York (where he moved to be with her) were really monsters.

Re: Momzer Robot Scan Wouldn't that just be straight radio perception?

Re: Looking at the Universe Timeline

It seems obvious that there can't be anything like like Legion's planetfuls of people who all have energy projection or transmutation powers, or the Kree or Atlanteans, (who are all at least Spider-Man level strong). "Being an alien" is no longer sufficient explanation for your flying brick if you are to fit into that timeline because all the serious superhumans are going to go away quite soon and then nothing for a thousand years. Is that the reason for the slight difference in origin between the original Firewing and the new one, and the reason why Obsidian got replaced by another Malvan super-gladiator?

Re: Battle Angel and the Cardinal So the Cardinal actually has no real connection to Battle Angel? I mean she does what the voices in her head tell her to, not what he says, right?

Re: help my friend is overpowered!!!!! I think Ghost Archer is right, that in the end powers and stat levels are the real matter of concern in these cases. Guys who have every skill under the sun and contacts up the wazoo aren't going to annoy other players the way the guy who is three times as effective in actual combat as they are will. Most skills, after all, just let you know stuff and the game effect of that is that the entire group listens to the GM give them exposition. As for the remainder, interaction skills, no matter how high they are, suck by comparison with mind control, stealth skills suck by comparison with invisibility, medical skills suck by comparison with healing and so on. However even if there are campaign limits, that doesn't mean you have to turn to skills. You can just get more powers and that can be almost as annoying. Sure Superior's laser eyes may not be 7any more powerful than Beholder's laser eyes...but they aren't any less powerful either. Everyone has the same power level so the only reason to regard one's character as something special is if you can do something _different_ from other characters. Now one good response to that problem is to pick something to do which is so bizarre that it won't fit into Superior's Flying/Zapping/Mind Controlling/Supergenius/Speedster/Brick standard niche encroachment. Um...I'm made out of water and I can control any water I touch! I astral project and can pull other people in there with me! I can turn people into gerbils! I can teleport objects at range, so have an anvil before I boomf you away! But that doesn't work for everyone.

Re: What if the M.U. was consistent? The problem of course with retiring the old characters to get new characters, is that you don't need to retire old characters to get new characters. You just need to think up new characters.

Calliope "Callie" Knight 15 STR 5 15 DEX 15 20 CON 20 20 BODY 20 18 INT 8 18 EGO 16 18 PRE 8 18 COM 4 3 PD 0 4 ED 0 3 SPD 5 7 REC 0 40 END 0 38 STUN 0 Characteristics Cost: 101 43 15d6 Aid to Luck,1 Charges(-2),continuing,Not On Self(-1/2) 48 Invisibility,Sight Group,Hearing Group,Radio Group,no fringe,Only versus mortals(-1/4) 6 27 Danger Sense, General Area, Any Danger 25 Life Support,doesn't breathe,safe in vacuum/pressure,safe in radiation,safe in heat/cold,immune to disease,immune to aging 53 Regeneration 2 Body Resurrection,Self Only(-1/2),0 END Persistent(+1) 3 Persuasion 13- 3 Acting 13- 13 KS: Superhero history 18-,(INT based) 5 PS: Creative Consultant 14- Powers Cost: 217 Total Cost: 318 Base Points: 227 20 Psych Lim,"Damsel in Distress",common,total 10 Rival: Eris 15 Hunted,"Lords of Order",more powerful,harsh,appear 8- 20 Hunted,"The Dark Circle",more powerful,non-combat influence, appear 8- 10 Hunted,"A billionaire",as powerful, NCI mild,appear 11- 10 Psych Lim,"Playful",common,moderate 10 Reputation, "Knowledgeable Hero Groupie" Disadvantages Total: 95 Callie Knight is a member of the secretarial pool at a comic book publishing house who is notorious among the others who work at the office for her casual work ethic. She by far prefers to just hang out with the creative talent when she isn't out chasing after superheros trying to get their autographs. However, any hint that she might be dismissed is met with universal outrage from the talent who avidly listen to her stories of encounters with heros (and sometimes villains) and come to her for her suggestions and comments on their stories. Secretly however, Callie is actually Calliope, the being the Greeks honoured as the muse of epic poetry. Cut off from Olympus along with her sisters, she has spent the last couple of thousand years encouraging both tales of heroics and the actual thing. Starting in the 20th century, she learned that if she applies her probability manipulation power to someone lethally poisoned by things like toxic chemicals or lethal radiation, not only can she save their lives, but they often develop amazing powers. And thus many heros (and villains) are born. Many foolish or wicked researchers have tried to duplicate those accidents, killing their victims because they lacked the essential catalyst, Calliope or someone with similar powers. The Lords of Order want her stopped because of the chaos her distortion of probability breeds, the Dark Circle want to capture her so they can trap her essence into a magic artifact, and the new owner of her company knows she's somehow connected to the origin of many superpowered characters and wants her to do it for him. Notes: Her Luck aid lasts for the subject until he actually makes a luck roll, then disappears. She can split it up, using 5 dice here and 5 dice there, and usually does. Her damsel in distress syndrome means that she will never directly fight and will respond to being grabbed by passively allowing herself to be manhandled and wait for rescue and will sometimes make "mistakes" when a possible hero is nearby to endanger herself. Thus she has a tendency to accidentally fall out of windows. Most heroes she's encountered quickly come to the conclusion that she's quite a nuisance, particularly since she insists on pestering them for autographs. She's no more popular with them than she is with her fellow secretaries.

Re: What if the M.U. was consistent? The Strangeverse: Power sources: Magic, plain and simple. There is no technology in advance of that of the real world. In fact the technology lags behind the real world. How long has been since Doctor Strange had an issue? However not all super-powered characters are actual sorcerers. Many are "cursed" humans, vampires, people with supernatural ancestry that gives them magic powers and the like. Society: Normal society operates oblivious to the supernatural hostilities going on under the surface. Anything that would reveal the truth to the public at large is covered up after the fact by mass amnesia spells, time reversals, reconstruction spells and other such plot devices. Characters: The Strangeverse does have costumed crimefighters like Moon Knight, Nighthawk and Hellcat, not to mention people who change into creatures to fight crime like Ghost Rider, and Jack Russell, but all of them operate pretty much exclusively at night and none of them are well known since the respectable media regards stories about them as unbelievable tabloid fodder. Reed Richards, once a respected physicist, ruined his reputation by attempting to investigate the supernatural and now, haunted and protected by the invisible ghost of his deceased fiance, leads two heavily armed assistants against the unknown. They frequently find themselves up against creatures summoned by the magic of the sorceror Doctor Doom. Johnny Storm prefers to deal with them using a flame thrower, while Ben Grimm is more the automatic weapons type. Doctor Strange himself often has a house full of guests like Nighthawk, Gargoyle, Valkyrie, Daimon Hellstrom, and Clea who in return for his assistance in helping them with their problems often are often banded together to deal with problems Strange is too busy to deal with and occasionally rally to assist Strange himself. They are the closest thing to a true superhero team this world has, although another competitor are the banded together opponents of the vampire Dracula.

Re: Ben 10 What would be part of this "CN Universe"?

Re: Would Stargate SG-1 work in a Marvel Universe? It doesn't really matter much whether the humanoid gods of the Marvel Universe are the actual individuals once worshipped as gods or just "avatars" of gods. They would still thrash any alien worms or acrocephalic dwarves horning in on their turf. Of course that's as good an explanation as any for how people for whom bronze was literally cutting edge technology managed to chuck hyperadvanced aliens off their planet. Still, generally I feel it's better not to try to just lump two unrelated fictional universes that way. It's like trying to stick neo-classical wings on a gothic main house. You can do it, but it just ain't purty. Instead it's better to steal the basic ideas you like and make them an organic part of the universe you are making up (or stealing). For example, a network of teleportation gates fits entirely seamlessly into a superhero universe. It's exactly the sort of thing they'd have. But in the Marvel Universe, for example, if such a thing was discovered, Reed Richards would probably end up in charge of investigating it, and doubtless they'd lead to a lot more worlds that weren't inhabited by humans and so forth. Also of course the first thing you have to consider when introducing such an element is where the PC's come in. After all, it hardly matters whether your universe has a teleportation gate if the PCs aren't going to be using it.

Re: help my friend is overpowered!!!!! Since Batman is the team wuss letting him handle Mongul doesn't seem like the best approach. One of the problems with power mismatches in RPGs as opposed to comics is that there's no problem with showing a weaker character like Batman blatant favouritism because the other characters don't have players who are going to say things like "But Superman (pre-crisis) has an INT of 50, so how come only Batman gets to roll to notice things?" and insist on taking out Batman's opponent if they've run out of opponents of their own.

Re: help my friend is overpowered!!!!! It may be necessary to have one of those Avengers break-up moments. All the other characters resign from the team for various reasons (including "I didn't become a superhero just to hold Captain Thousand's cape"). Then, either Cap gets himself some team-mates who are tougher, or Cap's player gets a clue and makes up a new character or agrees to depower his old one, or the campaign ends and you start talking about what the next one should be.

Re: Solara Not entirely. Isis was always an adult. But the Solaras apparently get their powers in adolescence and in superhero form always look like an adolescent, right? ( least I can't think of any reason for the sex change other than that there's a set physical appearance that all of them have like that Captain Marvel-like Image character whose secret identity was a woman. She was the only Image character I really liked.

Re: Teen Zombies (undead in a teen champions game) Well you know there are some concepts you just can't do on 30 points.

Re: Evil Organizaitons

Re: Anyone combine Champs with Call of Cuthulu? I can answer that question pretty easily. Those are good critters. They're good critters even if the character encountering them ISN'T a neurasthenic intellectual with shaky sanity. You do not have to buy into that whole Lovecraftian "you can't handle the truth" drek to use them. Even _Lovecraft_ didn't entirely buy into it with every story. He once wrote a haunted house story in which the real source of the problem was this big blobby thing underneath the house and the story didn't end with the protagonists going insane or dying. It ended with them killing the critter by dumping a carboy of acid onto it and going home satisfied that they'd done a job well.

Re: Supernatural Special Forces Hemovores. Then The Doctor had to be mean to poor Ace because her faith in him was repelling them from his trap.

Re: What if the M.U. was consistent? I got on this kick a few months ago when I heard the hundredth complaint or comment about how the portrayal of the world as seen in X-Men isn't consistent with what we see in non-X-books. As in, "People don't seem to be nearly so hostile toward mutants in the Avengers, and why are mutants supposed to be so much scarier to the public than members of the Fantastic Four who have the same kind of powers, physical freakishness, and will in fact give birth to honest to murgatroyd mutants." The reason of course, is that these books started out as separate "realities" and then were combined through crossovers and the Avengers. But it isn't just the X-Men who are odd men out. Doctor Strange, for example, used to do things that just didn't make sense if he really lived in the same universe as the Avengers. For example, erasing the memories of an audience of mundanes who saw one of his more pyrotechnic encounters to "protect their sanity". Iron Man in his own comic constantly runs into other people with gimmick costumes, and does not run into mutants or magicians as often as their general prevalence would suggest is likely and think silly things about not believing in magic. So, what if these little subrealities actually existed as alternate universes in their own right? I thought they might at least make interesting places to visit for D-Hoppers.