Lee

Every super game needs:
 
A Nazi themed association to fight.
A Ninja style association to fight.
 
I don't know why, but every superhero group loves fighting Nazis and Ninjas.  Hey!  That sounds like a new supplement.

First, you have the communication up front, before play even begins, rather than bring in two Drama Queens, a Combat Monster and a Tactical Wargamer and expect them to get along.  The game you describe, on which I elaborated, ends up derailed whether or not the players explain why they are playing their characters in the manner they chose to play them.  BlasterMan and Ghost Girl want to play out very different, mutually exclusive, dramatic scenes.  SmartGuy doesn't want to play out either one.  BeamerDude just went out to get a Slurpee, hoping the fight will be over when he gets back.
 
There is a big difference between "hey, if you're not sure, meta discussion is OK in play" and "you must meta-discuss every action you take and provide complete details of your character to all the other players".
 
 
We still have four players who each want different things.  Your description is one possibility.  Another is that BlasterMan and Ghost Girl say "Hey, it's a Role Playing Game, and we want to role play our characters.  The fight will happen in its own good time, so suck it up, buttercup."
 
 
Sounds like team story writing rather than a role playing game to me.  It also seems like Smart Guy is insisting on, and getting, his own way.  Too bad if Ghost Girl doesn't like having her decision to play her character, rather than play Smart Guy Tactical Theater, overridden.
 
 
So now we have BeamerDude's player playing Ghostgirl her player.  How nice.  Maybe the other player would like to run her own damn character, thank you very much.
 
Saying "hey, this is the game I want to play and you guys aren't playing it" is not an automatic recipe for everyone else to fall into line and play the game Smart Guy wanted to play tonight.
 
 
So there should be no backstory to explain WHY BlasterMan is so enraged, or why GhostGirl is a peacemaker, or what makes SmartGuy an insensitive douche and BeamerDude a laid back doormat?  Without backstory, where did DNPC's, Hunteds, etc. come from?  The characters should definitely develop during play, but just as they are going somewhere, they are also coming from somewhere.
 
And if GhostGirl wants to have an elaborate backstory, but I don't want it read to me in play, why can't both of us have what we want?  Is her elaborate backstory, explained only when her character chooses to discuss it in the course of gameplay, robbing you of something?  Of course, that "full PC disclosure" policy practically requires everyone read her 19 page back story, I suppose, so now it is a problem for your game.  In fact, now no one is happy.  GhostGirl's player didn't want her elaborate backstory to be fully known to the other players, just to inform her of how she would play her character and perhaps create some plot hooks.  BeamerDude, BlasterMan and SmartGuy didn't want to read it either.
 
 
So I can't figure out why I have these DNPC's, or Hunteds, or psychological issues, or what my Secret ID does for a living before my character is fully written, as are all of the others?  Then I can't actually create my character.  Definitely agree that the backstory has to be consistent with the campaign, and not impose on any of the other PCs, but that does not mean a backstory should be avoided.
 
 
To me, role playing is actually playing a character rather than a cardboard cutout that is just a bunch of combat stats making decisions based on what seems most likely to "win" the game, devoid of any personalty.  That's a TT  G, lacking RP.
 
And character development is development of personality, not adding new powers and abilities.
 
As you say, YMMV.
 
 
Bolding added.  Any character which pushes what are likely to be hot buttons should pretty much be avoided, unless one can be rock solid certain that the rest of the group are all OK with it.
 
If BlasterMan had dropped a racial or sexual slur, I don't think a metagame comment is likely to fix the impact on the player to whom it spoke directly to personal experience.

I can blame the GM for not just assuming you break through without need a roll for an event like that.  Its not like I was trying to punch Grond out or something.  It was a perfect illustration of when to make a judgment call for the story and genre as a GM instead of slavishly following every rule and opportunity for a roll.  You do not always need the roll.

But...but...but Donald Trump won all of those debates! I know he did, because he told us all so! Over and over again! So much winning!
 
Or maybe I'm confused....

But, this one goes to 11.

Just saw Captain Marvel from Redbox. I liked it. Flerken was funny. Larson was fine. A bit of obvious on the nose stuff with the girl power and Trump references, but didn't detract from the show nearly as much as the internet whiners let on, IMO.

Your kids were in high school with you?

I see the license as a SOCIAL use.
 
A driver's license is a 0-point perk. you don't get anything special with it.  Lack of one might even be a complication/disad in several campaigns
 
But being a licensed physician gets you the access to things you wouldn't otherwise have, like medical records, or 'Let me through, I'm a doctor', or the right to charge money for your services.  the skills mean you have the skill, the license means you have the social perks that come with being a doctor.

I'm sure I agree with Chris Taylor on this, but I kinda spaced out by the second paragraph.

Another student suggested that we stop referring to a certain group of people as "anti-vaxxers" and start calling them "plague enthusiasts". 

Counter: St Louis is an outlier. It has an extreme murder rate for the whole country, and its most recent reported murder rate was its own personal worst.
 
It is similar to the way the NRA points out that London and New York have similar populations, but London has tighter gun laws and more homicides. They don't mention that New York is an aberration; comparing Chicago and London would be very different.It isn't adequate to compare individual cities when the frequency of violent crime and the lethality of violent crime have many contributing factors. As well point to the old men who smoke daily while a young non-smoker dies of cancer; it happens, but it doesn't mean cigarettes don't contribute to cancer

Margarita Man

Nibblin' on sponge cake
Helping a thug make
The smartest decision he's made in some time
Yeah he'll get off scott free
But that doesn't bug me
'Cause the three he'll turn in are the worst kinds of slime.

Savin' the day again, I'm Margarita Man
Scanning for some good deed I can do
Some people claim the fact I'm here is a shame,
But I know, that they don't have a clue.

That mugger was stalking
A young woman walking
But now he's freaked out and his mind's come unglued
She's a real beauty
A Mexican cutie
She's had a close call, but she hasn't a clue.

Savin' the day again, I'm Margarita Man
Scanning for some good deed I can do
Some people claim the fact I'm here is a shame,
But I know, that they don't have a clue.
 
My fights, I must pick 'em
I can't save each victim
And mind reading psychopaths drives me to drink
But if you ask how come
Some killers get so dumb
And finally get caught, well now, what do you think?
 
Savin' the day again, I'm Margarita Man
Scanning for some good deed I can do
Some people claim the fact I'm here is a shame,
But I know, that they don't have a clue.
 
 
 

Lucius Alexander

Some people claim that Jimmy Buffet's to blame,
But I know, it's the palindromedary's fault.

One interpretation of that would be that the Director decided that they DID die and cut the only scenes that would indicate they didn't.
 
I think it was largely accepted that they did not die because "Superman does not kill", but then that should be equally acceptable for the terrorist scene, shouldn't it?
 
It doesn't make the current crop of Superman movies great cinema, or great portrayals of the character, but it seems like we will go out of our way to make excuses in favour of some film equally out of our way to reject explanations for others.

One of the comments made repeatedly is that the movies did not set up Supes' absolute Code against Killing.  Maybe  Movie Supes does not hold that same absolute, and it is only those of us bringing it from the comics Supes who are oh so distressed.  Funny...we're OK with Movie Thor (d)evolving into Hercules...but not a Supes lacking that absolute moral standard, or a Bats lacking that absolute "no guns" mindset.  Could it be that more strongly established DC characters create this greater resistance to alternative interpretations?
 
Supes also executed Zod (out of combat) and his allies in the comics back in the early post-Crisis era.  Golden Age Bats was a sharpshooter, and Golden Age Supes wasn't so anti-killing but, of course, the characters evolved.

They could get Bill Shatner to play it. He has experience.

Yes, there is a Stark Contrast between the two

I think we watched different movies.
 

Man, some GMs are really worked up about 9 points

Interestingly, those people can't seem to explain why COM is superior and Striking Appearance is inferior -- i.e. they are unable to explain why one makes them happy and the other makes them unhappy.  Perhaps it's the act of making players spend/waste points on a stat that doesn't give them any mechanical impact in the game (i.e. what they paid for) … and, worse, making them pay for the privilege of bragging rights when they could have the same bragging rights (from a RP perspective) by taking using Psychological Complications and/or Distinctive Features to get points back.

Frankly, spending points on something for which you could get points back a la Complications … isn't exactly something to brag about when considering the teaching of the Goodman School of Cost Effectiveness (also part of the game, as you may recall).
 
 
This. Is. Spot. On.  In fact, being distracted by pretty faces could readily be a Psychological Complication … and having a pretty face could readily be a Distinctive Feature.

The need for numbers around this to enable role-play … while bashing the mechanics of Striking Appearance … makes no sense.  People don't need stats to role-play.  

At this point, I'm hoping that the final episode ends with Bob Newhart waking up and saying, "Wow! I just had the weirdest dream." 
 
Experience Points awarded for those of you who get the joke. . . .

How (precisely) is a numerical value for COM any more of an aesthetic device than the mechanism entailed by the Striking Appearance talent? And as a follow-up, how (precisely) does the COM stat enable improved interaction and character behavior role-playing when compared with the interaction and character behavior role-playing achievable using the Striking Appearance talent? Moreover, how, exactly, is Striking Appearance deficient compared to COM?

I look forward to your responses on all three questions. (This should be good...)

Surreal

The sort of one-upmanship massey mentioned is, by the way, achievable with … (wait for it) … Striking Appearance.

For Sixth Edition, Striking Appearance is defined as doing the sorts of things you describe, under the circumstances you specify, but also has a game-mechanic benefit, which Comeliness hasn't officially had since The Golden Age of Champions for Second Edition Champions/Hero System. As SA is a Talent rather than a standard Characteristic, it's optional as to whether GMs wish to use it or players want to spend points on it.
 
I understand that many long-time Hero players feel an attachment to COM, and can and should add it back to 6E character sheets if that would enhance their enjoyment of the game. For my part, I don't see it contributing anything more substantively or subjectively than Striking Appearance does now.

Yeah I agree with this.  But what I'm looking for are less examples (although those are good too) but tangible benchmarks people can look at and go "ahh, that's how good this rating is."  You can do both with Strength (this is as strong as an olympic power lifter as well as you hit for xd6 and can lift y kg weight).  I think having both would be really useful for the rules and for helping people build characters.

"We live on an island surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance."
--- John Wheeler

"We live on an island surrounded by a sea of ignorance. As our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance."
--- John Wheeler