Yansuf

Re: Chibi Lolis of DOOM! Isn't she a little too young? Make that a lot.

Re: Chibi Lolis of DOOM! Interesting. You might be interested to know that back in on of the early issues of FF (# 2 or 3 I think) the Thing carried a "big bomb" inside (down the throat) of a super-giant monster menacing NYC. Anyway, back to PS238: if you go to where the on-line comics are, use the double arrow button to go to the start, and read issues 0 thru 2 or 3, and you will get a good taste of it.

Re: Chibi Lolis of DOOM! No. At most you will miss a few "in-jokes."

Re: Chibi Lolis of DOOM! SimComm: I wish! PS238 is a comic. You can see some of them online at http://www.PS238.com Click on the "PS238: The Comic" There is also a rule book for using Champions with PS238. The thread I started is discussion of that. Try checking out the comic pages on-line; it may inspire you to go out and buy it.

Re: A Handy Reference for Future Timelines Not all theories are equal.

Re: Stargate Refuge I believe that your first above is correct. However, a fair number have been mentioned over the years, I would guess about 8 or 10. Only one had a Cpt in command, all the rest had field grade leaders. So what are the odds?

Re: PS-238 Characters Let's move on a bit. Should Cecil Holmes be a student at PS238 (the underground portion)? While he is a more or less normal kid, he does have a very unusual ability: he can detect that people have super powers. Of course he is also very observant; he is the only child who can tell Moon Shadow is Tyler. And he has a magic coat and a technological shrink ray gun, and combat experience with both; not to mention extra body parts that only manifest in other dimensions. So should he be enrolled?

Re: Chibi Lolis of DOOM! Interesting. I feel the government would do better to put her into a country setting, where she can walk around outside, and all she can damage would be some trees. Plus she should have tutors, including ones on how to use her power safely; and probably her own full time therapist! You could have the PCs suggest this, or you could have Sgt Superior do so. Of course, if you follow PS238, she should definitely be enrolled asap!

Re: Invisibility vs. Sight It depends on whether the flash can effect the operator, but not through the radar screen. i.e., if the operator is where he can visually see the flash, and it blinds him, then he cannot see the screen. But the radar does not carry a visual flash through its signal. If the player cannot accept this, I suggest that you ask the quest of Steve Long in the rules question forum.

Re: Military Eye for the Civilian Gal First, 2 quibbles. Battalion is the correct spelling. (I know, it's NOT important, but I quibble.) The significant part of the quibble: a bn (standard US abbreviation for battalion) is a rather large organization, between 300 and 900 troops, commanded by a field grade officer. Second, The thing (Ben Grimm) was/is fairly smart. He was a college graduate from before WWII, when very few Americans attended college. He was a fighter ace in WWII, and a test pilot afterwords. Of course, Rockhead can still be not too bright; but in that case he is unlike Ben Grimm. FYI, in the (current) US Army, the TO&E (Table of Organization & Equipment) has a Sergeant (E-5) leading a fire-team or heavy weapons crew of 3 to 5 troops. Back in WWII and Korea, the sgt would have a squad of 8 to 12, but the US Army had serious grade (rank) inflation in the 1950's. (The USMC did not, there an E-5 still commands a squad.) The sgt has 3 chevrons (pointed up in the US, down in the British commonwealth) for insignia. Back to army, the squad is commanded by a Staff Sergeant (SSG) or E-6. The squad (or sometimes section in heavy weapons) has 2 fire-teams or several weapons crews/teams plus the squad leader. The SSG has 3 chevrons and 1 rocker for insignia. The platoon has an officer as platoon leader, a 2LT or 1LT. There is a platoon sergeant with rank E-7, a Sergeant First Class (SFC), to be the second in command, and often he will also be acting platoon leader when there are not enough officers available. The SFC has 3 chevrons and 2 rockers for insignia. SimComm. you said that you are not from the US. Therefore I should point out that very few other countries have the rank inflation the US Army has. In the British commonwealth the platoon sergeant is a Sergeant (3 chevron, no rockers); and the squad (or section) leader is a corporal. Anyway, unless the bn has a more senior commander than the sgt (even if the sgt is the man in charge whenever the PCs have met them) it should probably be the Justice Squad or the Justice Section. Of course, in the US the term sergeant is often used for all ranks of sergeant from E-5 (Sgt) to E-8 (Master Sergeant or MSG). So sergeant Superior could be of higher rank than E-5, and still called Sergeant Superior. He should wear the correct rank insignia though. (BTW MSG is 3 chevrons and 3 rockers.) Recommended solution: there is an officer (Major, Lt.Col or Col) in command of the large bn, but since you say only a small group shows up, this is a squad, section, or team that Sgt Superior is leading. It might still be called the Justice Battalion by the media, even though only a very small part is present; the media is not very concerned with military terms. You could show this to your players by having them watch a press conference on TV (possibly from Washington DC) where the commanding officer of the Justice Battalion is speaking. Call him (or her) Major Victory or Colonel Constitution. Of course, since this is a quibble, you can just ignore all of the above.

Re: Military Eye for the Civilian Gal A lot depends on what Harry has done to the good sgt. If they were just harmless pranks, the sgt may well ignore them, confident that "what goes around, comes around" and that Harry will "get his" eventually, while he (the sgt) gets on with the mission. See post #9 by incrdbil, I agree with him on that. Of course, if Harry should happen to "step in it" somewhere down the line, the sgt (and his team) will get a very good laugh out of it. If the "pranks" were serious, that is a different matter. But the sgt might still use the above response. If you think what Harry did was serious enough that you cannot see the sgt "acting like the adult" and ignoring them, you really need to give us some more info on what was done.

Re: Military Eye for the Civilian Gal Right On! SimComm, I don't know how old you are, but based on various clues I am confident that I left the army before you were born (1983.) I am sure that you did Not mean to offend anyone; but I can see how some vets found your post offensive. I didn't, but I can see how some would. There really is no such thing as "the military mindset." Unless you believe there is a "University mindset", a "Business mindset", etc. People are people. It's true that military professionals do generally share some traits and concerns, but not all share them. If you want to know what those traits, etc. are, these boards may not be the best place to ask. But regardless, I'll try to state them. Understand that this is my opinion, others may (and probably will) disagree. The West Point Motto is: "Duty, Honor, Country." No one joins the army (or any other US military service) to get rich. In general, soldiers feel that they are over-worked, under-paid, and unappreciated. (I agree.) Despite this they continue to do their jobs. Honor has real meaning in the military. You must keep faith with your comrades. The strongest bolster to courage a soldier feels is the belief that he (or she) cannot let their comrades down. You don't hear much talk about honor in American society, that's one of the main differences between the military and civilian world. Duty is an essential part of the "military mindset." We speak of rights, not responsibility or duty, in the civilian world; in the military you can never lose sight of your responsibility to do your duty. (Failing to do your duty lets your comrades down.) According to the US military, the first "principle of war" is "the principle of the objective." In civilian life, this is often approximated by "keep your eye on the ball!" What is means is: if you don't know (or lose sight of) what you are trying to accomplish, it's unlike you will succeed at it. (A well known saying about this is: When you are up to your ass in alligators, it is difficult to remember that your objective was to drain the swamp.) The military mindset is trained to always remember the objective. (Naturally, sometimes soldiers fail in this, but they are much less likely to do so than others.) I hope that you find this helpful.

Re: PS-238 Characters My earlier post about Tyler and powers was not a suggestion that he has powers from the "powers" in HERO other than those from equipment, but instead was concerned with the question of of "what are powers?" Tyler has the same powers as the Revanent, Batman, Green Lantern, etc. Those being: courage, determination, resource-fullness, and equipment. Green Lantern has no powers in the classic sense without his ring. There are many other heroes in the same situation. Even if we consider Iron Man and similar (Zodon, Angie & Hershall for example) to have a "super mind" because they invented and built their gear, Green Lantern, Emerald Gauntlet, and others did not develop their own gear. (In one issue the Revanent said: "Sometimes I think access to cash is the greatest power of all.") Note, the PS238 game book does give Tyler 3 dice of luck. I am not sure that I agree with this.

Re: PS-238 Characters The question was: "Prospero (PS238-pg. 40) has Familiarity with Tactics. Is that a glitch?" Steve's reply was: "No; he's a soldier. He's not like the other kids; he has actual military training. You might say it's a glitch to the extent that Tactics isn't in the book, but Hero fans can figure it out." I didn't find that very satisfying either.

Re: PS-238 Characters He isn't. See Issues #34 & 35.

Re: PS-238 Characters That's a good point. I agree on the Tactics. (Of course they don't show tactics for many who should have it, like Coach Rockslide and The Revenant.) On the PRE, I'm not sure the defensive PRE requires that he be in costume, but you could be right.

First, a confession. PS-238 is the only comic I follow these days. I love this one though. Anyway, I have some disagreements with the write-ups in the HERO Games book (big surprise.) I thought that we might discuss them. To start off: Tyler Marlocke, aka Moon Shadow. For those of you who don't follow the comic, he has no superpowers. Or does he? The faculty have effectively gotten him apprenticed to the "Batman like" superhero/vigilante "The Revenant" (same character who was in the story "Peer Revue" for those who read it), who has been training him and providing him with equipment. While Tyler has no normal super powers (like The Revenant), he is easily the most mature of all of PS-238's students, even though he is nowhere near the oldest. He is also among the most resourceful, and certainly the most courageous. (I use the definition "courage is fear, faced with resolution.") Anyway, by comparison to the write-ups for the other students, I feel some of his characteristics are far too low. Tyler has Int=5, Ego=5, Pre=5, and Spd=2. (Normal kid.) I believe that his Int should be 10 (he is as smart, observant, etc. as any of the super kids with Int=10.) Similarly, his Ego should be at least 8 (like Jenny, Mo-Ron, & Julie), and maybe 10 or 11, since he is clearly much more determined and self-confident than Julie, and somewhat more so than Mo-Ron. For his Pre, he clearly deserves the "power" Courage: +10 Pre for defense Only (-1), 5 points. He has faced the Aliens and Dr. Irons without faltering. (Also the dragon, but that was after the write-up was made.) Indeed, in two scenes Dr. Irons appeared victorious, but it was Moon Shadow and not The Revenant who turned the tide. Additionally, he probably should have at least +5 PRE "Only in Hero ID (Moon Shadow)" -1/4, 4 points; since the other kids are all in awe of him. He was their leader against Charles Brigman after all. Perhaps this could be modeled as: +10 PRE, for defense Only unless in Hero ID, with a -1/2 limitation? While spd=2 is the standard for a "normal", he has clearly shown that he thinks and acts as fast as most of his classmates, so he should have the same spd=3 that they do. Who wants to comment?

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? Good Luck.

Re: Stargate Refuge As I recall, Col O'Neil was the first commander of SG-1; but it is true its later COs have been LtCols. My comment that no SG team had been led by less than a Maj was based on the ranks of the leaders of the other SG teams shown in the series. However, now that I think about it, I seem to recall one team from season 1 that had a Cpt in command. Still, no teams with any lower ranked CO. Using a Brevet rank for the PC in command is a good suggestion. But I would make him (or her) pay for it with XP as soon as practical.

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? Maybe you can "talk" to him via e-mail. You may find that easier.

Re: Paths Not Taken

Re: (Somewhat) realistic "Sensors" I thought that was what the "alien detector" used in ALIEN. Anyway, microwave or millimeter wave radar will work, as will sonar; but note that these are both active sensors. The only way I can think of to do this with a passive system would be a "camera" system (visible and IR) with a computer analysis of changes to detect motion. Quite feasible for a stationary sensor; possible for a moving one but probably requires much better computer technology than currently available. (Of course that may not be true in a few years.)

Re: My PCs are made of GLASS! What a guy! I assume that all his minions are terrified of him?

Re: (Somewhat) realistic "Sensors" UV vision is of very little use; if there is enough UV to see by there is enough visible and/or IR to see by, except in an artificial environment. Of course it can be used with a UV searchlight, but that could cause sunburn! As I recall, the motion detectors in ALIENS were not reality based, but it has been many years. Current motion detectors use radar or sonar. What did ALIENS use? If your EM means electro-magnetic, that is realistic. For life sensors, check out the following: http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/technology/lifedetectors/ I recall reading about sensors that can detect mammals by the weak EM fields of their bodies/nervous systems several years ago. The John Clancy novel Rainbow 6 had them used. (I had read about them on the internet prior to the publication of the novel.) But I didn't find anything today from a quick net search.

Re: Stargate Refuge Simple solution: add a NPC who is a Maj or LtCol as commander, and have them incapacitated! Gen. Hammond expects them to be back on duty soon, so lets the senior LT be the interim CO.