Yansuf

Re: What Are We Waiting For?

X=24 K=11 C=3 D=4 so the total =42

You must have a different Rome in mind than I do.

I=1

V=5

X=10

L=50

C=100

D=500

M=1000

K is not used.

Re: What Are We Waiting For?

Well if you assign Alphabet to Numeral code to the Letters......you get 42, and we all know what THAT is the answer for.

 

~Rex

I don't recall K as a roman numeral.

XCD would be 390.

How do you get 42?

Re: WWYD - Battlefield

What would I do? probably watch the 24 hour news channels to see how close to my house they are getting. (and obey the instructions to evacuate when they come). What would My Character do' date=' thats a different story...[/quote']

 

Absolutely Right On!

Re: Which older modules are worth running?

Voice of Doom is a broken module for 4 players. Those villains will chew up your PC's and spit them out if they're run with even a half-ounce of tactical sense. I loved that module' date=' but the characters inside are quite simply too devastating for all but the most powerful hero groups. Le Maistre alone can turn an entire hero team into brain puppets. I love the module, but for the group size you're running for, I strongly advise you not to take that action. [/quote']

 

I have run VOICE of Doom several times, with different groups. Just finished running it with a group last week.

With 4 or 5 PC's, they need to be reasonably powerful characters with experienced PLAYERS who can use tactics and teamwork; or you need to seriously downgrade the power of the villains, and let the PC's fight them in groups, never all of the villains at once.

Re: A days journey

This is probably only single-sourced' date=' from Diodorus Siculus. Hans Delbrueck, admittedly often wrong in his criticism, believes that Diodorus' numbers are not credible for this period. And in particular, at another point in the same account of the battle at Psidian Cretopolis, the numbers in Antigonus One-Eyed's army falls to 28,000 infantry, 5000 cavalry, and 45 elephants.[/quote']

 

I'm not sure if I believe it either, but the reduced number seems reasonable for what might be left out of an army that size after a week long forced march.

Of course, if there were not reasonably good roads (trails) that speed through mountains does not seem plausible for a single day, let alone a week.

Re: Mixing Up Comic Book Ages

His Iron Age rewrites aren't relevant. The Golden Age Spider had this weird flat arrowhead that he'd use to knock guns out of criminal's hands so he was hardly a killer vigilante.

I don't know where you get this. Every reprint of the Spider pulps that I have read has him as a killer vigilante.

Unless we are thinking of different characters with the same name?

The Spider, Master of Men. Last year Baen brought out a reprint of some Spider stories in the book: "The Spider and the City of Doom."

Is your spider different?

Re: Mixing Up Comic Book Ages

The Golden Age wasn't as kind and as fluffy as folks seem to think though. The Spider, for example would make Frank Castle look like a boy scout and he wasn't the only character from the pulps OR the only character from the golden age of comics that didn't have an issue with Killing...... My Current campaign though follows a very similar arc as to what you describe with a few twists here and there that most folks wouldn't expect.

 

~Rex

Golden age traditionally refers to early superhero comic; the spider was a pulp character who precedes superheroes.

Many pulp characters were killer vigilantes.

Re: Honorverse

Since this appears to have gotten out of hand, I will no longer be posting on this topic.

Re: A days journey

Pre 20th century, when infantry really marched to battle, normal speed on a decent road was 2.5 mph (marching 50 minutes and a 10 minute break) and 8 hours the standard time of march per day, so 20 miles per day was normal. Bad terrain would slow you down of course.

With a "forced march" 30 miles a day was plausible, but that exhausts the troops.

Re: Honorverse

I "know" that it's hyperspace' date=' but it doesn't work like any other Hyperspacial stuff I have seen. Each system has a set of hyperspacial rifts/termini that lead only to a specific system. Which is why I called it wormholes because it's really similar to the wormhole travel in Starfire. Unlike B5 where a ship that has the right engine can enter hyperspace from anywhere, Honorverse starships only have that one point. Yeah there's that stuff about Warsawski (sp?) sails and moving to other bands. In fact it seems like perhaps Weber hasn't been totally consistant on how FTL works. IT could be that there are 2 FTL systems in use and I just never noticed it (or Weber just ignores FTL travel unless it adds something to the story)[/quote']

 

Sorry, you must be thinking of some other universe.

That is not correct for the "Honorverse" at all.

You can enter hyperspace anywhere outside the "hyper limit" of a gravity well.

Re: The Rockford Files

Pardon me for misremembering a show I was a fan of over 2 decades ago! I remembered Jim as being paroled and not pardoned. Oops! I'll turn in my geek card at the door....

Keep your card, you are pardoned.

Re: Three Musketeers in Outer Space

Within 30 feet, a swordsman can beat a gunman. A professional baseball pitcher can throw in excess of 90 mph. The reason we can't run that fast is simply, we are not strong enough. Enhance strength, increase balance and coordination - If we take a reasonable high-end human sprint speed as 17-22 mph...We have no real increase in how fast someone can pull the trigger and a small increase in how fast they can draw.

 

90 / 17 = 5.29

90 / 22 = 4.09

End result is the "effectiveness range" of a swordsman increases from 30 feet to 120 to 150 feet. At those ranges, a sword (or other melee weapon) becomes a viable tool in boarding actions, perhaps exceeding that of a dedicated firearm. At the very least, bayonets will make a sharp return. "It" (the unknown common melee weapon system(s)) would probably also be useful for urban combat and (anti-)guerilla operations.

 

Someone with more knowledge than me could probably suggest useful boarding-action/other melee weapons in such a situation.

Your analysis assumes that the gunman does not have his weapon out. (Within that context, it is valid.)

Re: Honorverse

Not that I can find on HeroWiki or StarHero Fandom

 

Thought probably not hard to writeup (esp if running a civilian campaign). Ships capable of 100g's of Acceleration, FTL is though weird Wormholes (I guess it's a kind of Hyperspacial movement). The wormholes reorganize the universe into one that is different from the one that we observe. As planets hundreds of Light years distance are rendered nextdoor neighbors by the wormholes.

 

BTW go Honorverse the game for some cool artwork of Honorverse Naval ships

 

If you want to run a military version of the Honorverse you could use TaskForce Game's Starfire to simulate the naval battles. BTW David Weber is one of the original Designers for Starfire and the Honorverse defiantly has the feel of the Starfire universe. Hell you could even use the Tech advancement list in Starfire to follow the developments of Tech in the Honorverse. It's been kind of amusing for this Starfire gamer.

 

OR use SITS for the space combat... http://www.frpgames.com/cart.php?m=product_list&c=1235

Most FTL is through hyperspace, not wormholes. Wormholes are very useful, but rare.

Does anyone know of any spreadsheet type character sheets for 6th edition that are available?

Re: The Rockford Files

He kept a pistol in a cookie Jar in his trailer. Even before he was pardoned he would take it out if he thought that he would need it.

Since he was pardoned before the pilot, what basis do you have for your second sentence?

Re: The Rockford Files

Well' date=' that would certainly explain how he had a pistol. I guess that is what could be called an Easter Egg.[/quote']

 

The times he showed his gun, it was a revolver, so it was not from the Army.

Re: The Rockford Files

Now that you mention it, I do recall seeing him making up a card in one episode, but I'm not sure which one. I guess a business card could act as a couple of levels to help with appropriate Interaction skills (or maybe just Disguise).

 

His father would be a DNPC as far as I could tell.

 

I just re-watched the pilot episode last night (which prompted my OP), and he received a pardon from the governor instead of being paroled. He has a gun, but as an ex-con he can't have a permit for it. I guess another complication would be that he has a criminal record. The pilot also said that he only took cases that were in the inactive files of the police, and that the LAPD disliked him for solving inactive cases, since it made them look like idiots. I think that limitation on the types of cases he would take was dropped during the first season.

In the US, if you receive a full pardon you are not an ex-con within the meaning of the law, it is no bar to a pistol permit in any state.

Re: A Super powered Nation

i think i might have played a tfos character that might have taken the bomb' date=' waited until fred phelps and co left and then set it off over sdcc, though...[/quote']

 

sdcc?

Re: World of Balance: A campaign for an eight and nine year old

The Dragon (Wingy for those keeping notes at home), is walking around the hospital and literally falls through the ground (even Juvenile Dragons are REALLY big/heavy! ) into part of an underground complex. Investigation leads to combat with laser toting robots where Human Generator learns a very important lesson:

 

Before checking out something potentially dangerous, TURN ON YOUR DEFENSES.

 

They have only just started exploring the underground complex, so far H.G. has fried two Hunter/Seeker robots and Wingy the dragon has half cooked another. Rainbow the Phoenix got nailed by a robot and lost over half her health. Rose threw a forcefield spell around her and ordered her to get back to the unicorn (who the dragon refers to as "steak on the hoof") who's bringing up the rear of the group so that the unicorn can heal her. Moonlight (the pegasus, referred to by the dragon as steak on the wing), is on guard duty at the top of the hole.

GR8!

But a question: Did the kids come up with the names (Wingy, Steak on the Hoof, etc.) or did you?

Re: Team size

I like the Five Man Band concept for NPC hero teams: Leader' date=' Lancer, Smart Guy, Big Guy, and "The Chick". (The Chick is not always female).[/quote']

 

I'm not sure I know the definitions of your terms, can you help me out?

Re: Conan: The Current Movie in Progress.....

Beastmaster is a terrific movie. . . Marc Singer and Tanya Roberts' date=' Rip Torn as a carpet-chewing bad guy, BDSM zombies and birdmen vampires. What more do you want? [/quote']

 

Have you read Beastmaster?

Re: Conan: The Current Movie in Progress.....

I'll have to add' date=' The Beast Master, and Sword and the Sorcerer to that list, [/quote']

 

I can never forgive them for making a GR8 SF novel into a Sword & Sorcery movie!

Re: Infographic: 120 fake sci-fi events on a real-world timeline

I have to disagree with your placing "The Thing" in 1982.

The original "Who goes there" (which was set in Antarctica) was in 1938; the first movie "The Thing from Another World" was set in the Arctic, but it was in 1951.

Re: Taranis-The British plane that deserves to be in a comic book

Ah - I see your difficulty - you haven't read the study. We're not talking some hypothetical attack on the US or similar' date=' but an analysis of the likely battle space in a specific conflict. Here's the RAND study. They were analyzing a "pacific conflict" (basically a US defence of Taiwan). The US fighters/Fighter bombers deployed are likely to have a significant edge in technology, but a significant disadvantage in numbers. To counter that weakness in numbers and the advantage the chinese have in air bases requires the US fighters to operate over longer distances and to operate for longer on station, made possible by the use of in flight refuelling. A numerically stronger foe can afford to engage your fighters, accept their losses and deploy extra forces against your support - in this case, the tankers and take them out. If you don't deploy your in flight tankers, your options become even worse: you can only deploy a portion of your force, increasing the enemy's numerical superiority in the battle space.

 

So no, the USAF aren't idiots - but forward operations require potentially exposing support assets due to the limited range of current stealthed fighters. That's a risk that some day might have to be taken. Likewise, although detecting and jamming a frequency-hopping signal to multiple stealthed targets isn't the easy task you seem to think it is, it's always possible that the technology to do that might be developed some day.

 

In short, both options offer some advantages, and some risks. In many ways, a larger fleet of UACVs may be a lower risk/higher return strategy.

 

cheers, Mark

OK, I've seen the study.

I stand by my statement that "there is an order of magnitude difference."

Yes, in the study the PLAAF defeated the US force. So what?

The question is not whether the USAF can be defeated; the question of which is easier, attacking bases and tankers, or jamming a control link.

Re: Taranis-The British plane that deserves to be in a comic book

OK, do you have a link to the study?