OzMike

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

GM: Tiger walks out in a karate gi...

Me: (OOC) A karate ghee, wouldn't that be slippery?

No, just incredibly tasty. Clarified butter - yummo

Re: My yang needs a little help

How powerful is the Hunted? And does it have NCI? Two distinct possibilities that already exist in the Champions Universe (current or past) spring to mind:

Lung Hung - The Red Dragon. Head of VOICE.

Dr Yin Wu (or one of his four flunkies).

Another, more personal type of hunted would be Jade Phoenix who is threatened by anyone he perceives as challenging his mastery of Kung Fu.

Re: World Destroyer

Well OzMike wishes to see the world suffer, so everything is going to ugly... and very tired...

The Ugly Stick: Drain COM and END 1 point, Personal Immunity (+1/4), Penetrating (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Uncontrolled (+1/2), COM and END simultaneously (+1/2), Area Of Effect (2" Radius; +1), Continuous (+1), MegaScale (1" = 100,000 km; +1 1/2) (20 Active Points); OAF (-1)

Real? 10 pts

Re: Go home, Superman!

Narratively, I think that one of the best handlers of this problem is Kurt Busiek's Astro City. A whole city that only has a Superman clone (Samartian), but also a Justice League clone (Honor Guard), a Challengers of The Unknown/Fantastic Four clone (First Family), a Batman clone (Confessor), numerous Daredevil/Streethero clones (Crackerjack, Jack-In-The-Box), a Punisher clone (Blue Knight), a Spectre clone (closest thing I could think of for The Hanged Man) just to name a few... and it works.

Basically my advice is that you let the heroes handle whatever you want them too. Want them to save the world? Superman is off saving the galaxy. The galaxy? Superman is off saving the universe. Or maybe the Pcs will go off and save the galaxy because uber-hero is dealing with forest fires on the west coast or floods in Bangladesh. Uber-powerful heroes will always have to deal with uber-powerful threats. Never let the uber-hero take the local spotlight from the PCs, and it always helps if the heroes act like equals in the fight against miscreants, rather than immature playgound bullies or smart-bottoms.

Solve a mystery? Batman is pursuing one of his rogues gallery or dealing with something international. Or maybe he is more cautious and less hands on than the PCs, so you could end up with a sweet moment of the PCs actually working it out and taking down the bad guy, only to have Batman appear when the dust has settled to explain any narrative points the PCs didn't work out that you wanted them to, congratulate them on a good job, and leave them to deal with the cops.

My 2 bits...

Re: 'Ki Disruption' NND -- Defenses?

Power Defense sounds good enough to me. If you think that is not common enough' date=' have it resisted with "Willpower," a sucessful EGO check (perhapse modified for the active points in the attack) and the target resist the ki disruption.[/quote']

 

I was going to write the exact same solution/answer (with almost the same wording) - spooky....

Re: Forth wall perception?

I've been in a game with an NPC that the GM and I cooked up who could do this... we did it as Clairsentience into another dimension...

Under current rules I'd just apply the Transdimensional advantage to normal sight and normal hearing or go with the same thing above if you want him to be aware of what the players say OOC and the ability to 'see' them.

It was lots of fun - the character even had a pseudo-religious philosphy about The Players, and in some ways was omniscient because a player would say something like "I go to the warehouse" and then the NPC would show up there because he heard the OOC directions.

Re: [Warped Game Ideas (WGI)] Psycho-powers

The Short

Sounds good to me. Repped.

The Long

This idea has a few gaming ramifications that need to be explored. Here's a few of the questions it raised for me:

Is it loss of sanity or more a corruption? In other words, is there a physical reflection of the destruction of the powered individual's mental faculties?

What is the upper limit of power? You mentioned Superman and Batman - that's a pretty big range.

How does the progression of insanity relate to increase of power?

Does the 'sanity loss' occur through possession of power, or through the use of it? In gaming terms does it matter whether the power is persistent ("I have Life Support, so I am incurably insane"), or non-persistent/attack based ("I can use my flight, but if I use it too long I'll lose myself").

Or is the amount of insanity directly related to the 'active' or 'real' points in a power? e.g. Ultraviolet Vision Man is quirky, Pick Up Mountains Man is a loon.

What actually constitutes a 'power' in this setting? Do Super Skills? Does Super Tech? Does stats over 20? Over 30?

What is the origin of the 'power'? Is it common? If not - how about psionics? Magic? Aliens?

Just a few thoughts...

Re: Lax in my Repping

Repped

Re: Gestalt Interview

Hippo Birdies Scott. Boomshanka

Re: I am a comic book dinosaur.

Here's my 2 bits...

Astro City - well worth getting.

The Authority - rather than this, get some of Ellis' StormWatch run, particularly the Change or Die TPB. If you want to see the impact heroes make on a world in more realistic terms, StormWatch is better than the Authority. IF you want widescreen ultraviolence, The Authority is the go.

Identity Crisis - interesting but nasty retcon-type story. Well written and drawn, but I wouldn't say I enjoyed it.

Infinite Crisis - good, and probably how The Authority should read.

Justice - haven't read, no comment.

Kingdom Come - is good. Read it.

Powers - variable, but some really interesting stories. And I like the dynamic between the two main characters.

Other recommendations:

Planetary (Wildstorm title) - although the climax seems a little too rushed, it's full of ideas.

Top Ten - fun. A world chock fulll of people with powers.

Planet Hulk (Marvel title) - ties loosely to Civil War, but don't hold that against it. I think it's in TPB. Very much a redemption story.

Alias (Marvel title) - low powered hero as PI. Worth a look.

Sleeper (Wildstorm title) - sort of like Wiseguy (the old Ken Wahl character and TV series) with superpowers. The struggle of an undercover hero to stay a hero.

Wildcats 3.0 on (Wildstorm title) - it hardly ever seems to appear on peoples recommended list, but I really like this title.

Shazam (DC title) - anything featuring this character always seems to feature old-school heroics. It's great.

Invincible (might be Image) - A great comic series - young hero, great power, great responsibility.

San Angelo: City of Heroes (Gold Rush Games) - ok, not a comic book, but an excellent RPG resource for HERO featuring a self contained world that explores realistic implications of a world with people who have powers. Its out of print, but you can easily find second hand copies on the net.

Re: Sand Staff

You forgot the -1/2 HtH limitation. That would drop the cost to 18 points.

D'OH!

Yes I did. Rep to you.

Re: Sand Staff

Sand Staff

+4D6 HA, 0 END, OIF - Sand of Opportunity (30 Active, 20 Real)

plus +1" Stretching, 0 END, Always Direct, No Non Combat Stretching, OIF - Sand of Opportunity (7 Active, 3 Real)

Total Cost - 23 pts (37 Active)

Re: Rant? Speed in Hero

It was actually my campaign' date=' and Hugh Neilson is thinking of the same thread. I was wrong however, he wasn't the one that said it didn't simulate the genre, but in the time it's taken me to write this I've forgotten who it actually was. While I really don't recommend reading it, if you're curiosity is piqued, the 27 page monster starts here

And I apologise for starting it

Re: Heroes and Nukes!

Even if that be more accurate (and I don't think it is), that creates obvious problems with game balance. I don't want to make the cure worse than the disease. To use thousands of d6's for nuke damage, you'd have to completely rework the entire system's damage and BODY rules. According to official rules, Earth itself could be destroyed by a single 90d6K EX. Since IRL Earth has experienced dozens of nuclear experiments and two dropped in anger, I think it's safe to assume Earth has a bit more more than 86 BODY. I fact, I think Earth should have BODY in the thousands or tens of thousands.

I thought I read somewhere sometime that a cubic hex of dirt/ground (1"x1"x1") had 15 BODY, 0 DEF (might have been pre-5th). That would certainly give the Earth's crust a pretty high BODY.

Re: Heroes and Nukes!

Grimble, I guess the main question is what do YOU want to happen in your game? And what do you want the consequences of those actions to be?

If you want to let the PC nuke the villain with this thing, it's your call.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with statting it up and rolling the dice unless there are PCs in the vicinity who could get affected by it. Handwaving/storytelling would be my approach.

I would also strongly discourage the PC from doing it - it just doesn't seem heroic. Also shouldn't it be saved for for when it is really needed? Like when Godzilla is making a B-Line for a major population centre? Or when Cthulu and his mates come over for a cup of tea? Or when Galactus pops down for some lunch? To use it on a mere human-type seems, well, wasteful.

Finally if the PC is insistent I'd allow it to happen. Because, if you remember, this is atom-ripping technology from another universe. So the PC would sneakily set it off, some relatively major property damage might occur, probably very few casualties (a Lex Luther-type would protect his assets - yes, even his gardeners) due to a massive anti-nuclear weapon energy field in place over the island (any master villain who is willing to use nukes to disable Stronghold is HIGHLY likely to have a suitable defense against a similar type of attack against himself) and then I would have the biggest inter-universal rift the world have ever seen appear... was it 1 mile(?) above the island and the nasty aliens from the other place start to pour through and make a beachhead into ours.

And then the PCs, and in particular the PC who started this mess, would probably need to go and ask nasty-Mr-Lex-Luthor-type-who-they-just-tried-to-kill for help in fighting the invasion and shutting the rift.

Oops indeed.

Re: Gestalt Interview

I've exploded with anticipation. Sorry

Re: Hero Talk Magazine

FYI- for anyone interested' date=' Howard S. Brody was the innocent young mutant in an adventure at the back of the 1993 Supplement "The Mutant Files". In 93' when the book first came out we ran the adventure/the heroes failed and Howard died at the hands of [b']The New Improved Genocide [/b]I'm not used to the pc's failing so that adventure left a bad taste in my mouth as a gm and this issue is a way of dealing with that demon in my gaming background.

 

The Doctor

That was pretty much the way it played out for me too - the New Improved Genocide was incredibly nasty, especially if you had them fight smart. Most groups of PCs would struggle with the agents, let alone all the other stuff.

Re: Where can I find "Vipers Nest"?

Noble Knight Games has a hard copy of the 1993 Viper book for 15 bucks.

See here for the list it's on - lots of old stuff there.

Re: Hero Talk Magazine

Personally' date=' I'd like to hear the story of Harold Brody.[/quote']

 

Seconded

Re: Iconic Villains

VOICE - Lung Hung Red Dragon is pretty much an iconic evil mastermind type.

TANGENT ALERT - I think that his lackeys (being VOICE) would wipe the floor with Dr D's lackeys and would wipe the floor with almost any other villain team proper. So if you measure the villain by the size of his lackeys, Lung Hung is the man... err... woman.

Re: Champions resources

GURPS Supers Wildcards and the IST stuff is great fun.

M&M Freedom City is worth a look.

Gold Rush Game's San Angelo is great (there is a Hero version of this).

It depends on what sort of non-HERO supplements you are looking for... what do you need?

Re: [Character] Apex

Have had a better look now.

For that missing 10 pts of disads, how about something like Watched by Eidolon? He's found his son, but wants to watch how he develops. If the arrogance gets too much, he shows up to remind him who he should be.

I also think an interesting character development would be a nemesis, someone who is a negative reflection of himself (a Shazam/Black Adam thing).

I also think a good area for charcter development would be to gain a normal human mentor - maybe a martial artist sensei or old hero (Wildcat-like) type - who teaches him to fight smart.

Re: [Character] Apex

I like the character - he's got plenty of room to grow and develop. Plus the 20 Def/30 CON combo is hard to beat - you fall down, but you always seem to get back up.

Re: Unofficial Handbook to the Champions Universe

Except this was posted over 6 months ago. I assume the status of this is this guy dropped off the face of the Earth. Not that I see an issue... crazy projects like this get forgotten all the time. It would have been neat to see it happen...

Actually I think the project died because of lack of character submissions - there was another thread somewhere about it. And of course RL got in the way as soon as it had an opening.

Re: Do you think these are legitimate Power Builds

Perhaps rather than "Mental DEF adds to PD/ED"' date=' maybe there should be a limitation that a target makes a PER Roll at -5 (the same modifier as his Images power), then target takes no damage.[/quote']

 

Given his images power, that sounds like a better (and less messy) option. A question though - once a person realises the nature of the objects (that they are not real) do the objects cease to hurt them at all? Or do they get a bonus to their PER roll (say +3 making a total of -2 instead of -5)?