Captain Emu

Re: What kind of aliens? This has been my huge problem with aliens in most fiction - they are almost always depicted as homogenous cultures. Though I will admit that I beleive there are likely to be some rather bizarre and truely alien beings out there, I can't help but think that some basic rules of nature are going to exist anywhere you find living creatures. They may diverge from our Earlthy norms, but I still think that at their core they will still be definable within the basic understandings of natural order. On the other hand, it may come to be that we here on Earth are one of those oddities of the universe and that elsewhere, things follow a much different course. Heck, this may even be quite likely if "Earthly" planets are as rare as they may seem in the cosmos. If I had to make a prediction, it's going to be that any race we run into will be an absolute crap-shoot. I do think, however, that any race we run into, isn't going to like what they find. No matter how innocent the encounter there is likely to be some hothead or paranoid bastard who's going to take it the wrong way and start an interstellar incident. Humanity is a hostile animal, even when we preach peace we do it so agressively that it practically defeats the peaceful intentions of the gesture.

Re: Why are robots always immortal? This has been a big point of arguement with the theory of such wonderful toys as transporters. Once you pull somebody apart and move their molecules someplace else and re-arrange them, are they really still them? There have even been Trek episodes that dealt specificly with this question. Another exercise that follows along with this is "Theseus' Boat" - Imagine Theseus puts into port to have his boat repaired and it ultimately needs each and ever hull piece, mast, oar, tiller, everything replaced due to worm rot, etc. But, the man doing the repairs is secretly re-assambling the replaced parts in his back yard, which boat is really Theseus' boat?

Re: Why are robots always immortal? The idea that machines are built for short-term exsistence is a pretty recent (last 50 years) thing in machines, electronics, etc. Most things now days are built cheap and disposable. You are unlikely to ever see electronics as hand me downs, like my grandfather's radio. It's simply not economically sound to build a machine that is meant to last, unless it is part of its function. A military robot, might be given an operational life of several decades, keepign it in line with current military thinking on the servicibility of military weapons. If it was good enough at what it did, they might milk it along for several more (B-52 bomber, looking at 100 years of service if it keeps going as it is). More likely, they would be kept to a decade or two of service and then be replaced, phased out, by newer models. Any data they had would have long been archived and could easily be uploaded to a newer machine that would showcase the newest technology. I think if anything - "serial" immortality is more likely for a machine but us humans are pretty much stuck taking a dirt nap after the brain fritzes out until our technology gets so advanced that the line between machine and biology is so slim it's pretty non-exsistent.

Re: Lovecraft Stuff Thanks for the info guys. Found Susano's stuff. I think I have enough to begin with until I can get some stuff of my own done. Thanks, All

Re: Lovecraft Stuff I do have the 4th Ed Horror Hero rules. Has anyone statted out any of the nasties from Lovecraft's works? That's the main thing I need is stats for Lovecraftian horrors.

Re: Lovecraft Stuff I should have specified that I was looking for HERO System resources. Thank you, though. Eli

Hello everyone, Does anybody know if there is a good online resource for Lovecraftian style stuff? I am running a small game for a couple folks and would greatly appreciate anythign that can save me some grunt work for what is basically a side game. Thanks, Eli

Re: Pulparize It! Has anyone Pulparized Star Wars yet? Here's my take on it - Farm Boy in the Mid West find a pair of odd fellows - one tall and proper, the other short and a bit mouthy and cranky. These fellows claim that they had been on an air ship that had been attacked by a band of air pirates and that they barely escaped and in their plain that crashed miles away. Later, the boy finds a letter that falls out of the pocket of the smaller guy. It's a letter asking for help from an old war vet who lives nearby. Going to visit him, they discover that the old man flew in the war with the farm boy's father..." Anyhow. They go to the big city, meet a guy who's got a pretty scuzzy cargo ship. They set out across the Atlantic to head to the island to meet the writer of the letter. They find that the island that they were to visit has mysteriously disappeareed, only a scorched crater where it once lay. As they are leaving the island, a mysterious shadow falls over their launch and they are captured and pulled into the clouds. They find themselves in a mysterious airship, bigger than any they can imagine (perhaps Laputa). After escaping, they make their way to America and meet with the heroine's contacts, a Mysterious organization of daredevils who determine that this airship is actually a radium-powered sky fortress created by an exiled Dictactor. Knowing that the Dictator's next target is New York City, they send an elite group of pilots against the fortress trying to drop a bomb in some vulnerable point and save the Big Apple.

Re: Help with Islanders This stuff is all wonderful and thank you for posting the .hdp files for the gear. I may run a lost world/island game at some time and this saves me a lot of leg work and provides me with a ton of good prefab material. I have, in other games, run lost world games where I had worked with paleolithic exotica. It's fun to take some fact, mix in some creativity and come up with somethign that is at once fantastic, but at the same time believable.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... "You let the girl out of the cage" "Anyone locked in a cage, must be a victim." "Or a criminal" "Oh yeah..."

Re: Help with Islanders Taking a hint from some bronze-age armor, you could use knotted cord too as well as boars tusks or other ivory sown into shirts, or helmets. Gator/crocodile skin makes good armor. Don't forget poisons. Islanders would have access to all manner of animal and plant-based toxins.

Re: Help with Islanders Weapons and armor? This is a fantasy island setting right? Armor Shields could easily be made from bark, woven fibers, wood or even animal parts like large turtle shells. Armor itself, if you wanted it, would likely be light and limited to things protecting torsos and lowers legs (mainly from terrain) which could be made of any of the above and also laced bones. Because these people are likely veyr ocean-oriented, they would not likely burden themselves with much armor at all. Weapons Weapons for islanders can be quite varied. Hawaiins actually developed the use of the pike for example. Knives of volcanic stone or glass are common. Fish spines are common for spears as are ray stingers. I have seen clubs made of animal vertibrae, wood, stone. One favorite I've used in fantasy islanders is the "warpaddle" - a carved, demon-faced paddle that in the real world is used for ceremony, but makes a great islander magic weapon. Slings and bolos are also good as well as light bows. Hurled stones and simple clubs made of bone or sticks are a given. Animals provide a wealth of useful weapon bits. You'd be surprised how nice of an improvised club a full animal skull can make (made one back in my childhood on a farm as an experiment) Let your imagination run free. Nets an harpoons spring to mind as well.

Re: Looking for Unremarkable heroes! I've logged on several times over the last few days with no problems. I have checked and nothing is wrong in the settings. I'm not sure what the trouble is.

Re: Pulparize It!

Re: New Game "The Unremarkables" - Advice Sought Has anyone tried to register for the Unremarkables forum and not been able to? If so, let me know. I have had a couple complaints from RL friends who are playing, but I think I got it fixed.

Re: New Game "The Unremarkables" - Advice Sought Alright. I give. Those interested in starting a Forum-based "Unremarkables" game go to http://www.vf11.com/captainemu/ and join in. I can only really run about six people in any given game, to start, but may be able to do more later. It's very bare bones right now. But I set it up with quick expansion in mind. Once you are registered, log on in and post your character ideas in the "Letters to the Editor" section and we can get the ball rolling. I am thinking of Powerful Heroes with 40 point Disadcategory limit Normal tabletop rules of conduct apply and I don't think that I need to repeat them.

Re: New Game "The Unremarkables" - Advice Sought Well, I'm working on setting up a forum to run games on. I tried a mailing list before and really had issues tracking the action due to the lack of organization. I'd welcome any suggestions anybody might have for how to make a PBEM run smoothly.

Re: New Game "The Unremarkables" - Advice Sought You know, with all the interest in this setting, I might have to run an online version, even if I do run a tabletop one. Perhaps I can have the two games work off one another or something.

Re: Who's on 1st...Avenue that is? I have a cool idea for a mysterious burrito vendor who seems to know everything but really never says anything. Sit down for a buritto and chat with him and suddenly things fall into place.

Re: Who's on 1st...Avenue that is? So, brainstorming a bit, I've decided to set my game i nthe main Champions universe but in a new city, name still pending, but I'm thinking somethign that sounds a bit haunting. So far the cast I've come up with for the main neighborhood are - The good cop The bad cop Local burned out police detective Pro girl with a heart Good street kid Bag Lady Mysterious professional in the neighborhood The wierd kid Bleeding heart that runs the shelter Priest Old man who's never left the neighborhood since Roosevelt was pres Goth chick Waitress with pretty, sad eyes Local merchant who likes to help The list grows...

Re: New Game "The Unremarkables" - Advice Sought I was considering running the game troupe style, with each player making up a few characters ahead of time. Given the low power level of the game, making multiple characters shouldn't be too much to ask. This will allow me to have the players pick and choose the character with the greatest motivation for a particular story. On the other hand, I know enough from years of comics, books, YV and movies that no matter how much they may not want to get involved, the heroes in these stories seldom really have a choice. Using the grandma as an example (she is a nice example to test the concept), the first time would have been the fluke. But the next time, it could be little Jimmy from the apartment down the hall running from the local gangs. Little Jimmy goes to nice ol' Mrs. So and So who ultimately has to make that moral choice to help the kid or throw him to the wolves. Now, after this, the word might get out. Everyone's heard how she pulled the car off her grandson and after Jimmy puts the word out people will be talking more. Maybe people start coming to grandma for help, thinking she's some sort of blessing or something. These stories have a tendancy to build themselves. Also, one of the elements of the game that I want to build is some common thread that all the characters share that will bring them together and then to the realization that they have it in their means to really make a difference, even if it is a small one.

Greeting again, In developing my setting for "The Unremarkables" I found myself asking, "how much do I really need to do up front to make this work well?" More specifically, how many and what sort of NPCs are good to have fleshed out before even attempting to run such a game? Now some of this may be answered in the Dark Champions book but, alas, I do not have it and am operating mostly on core rule books at this time. I was wondering what other have done and what sort of NPCs and denizens they had ready at the beginning. Also, I am running this game on a seriously tight budget, so any online or even personal resources that might have some material I could use would be infinitely useful.

Re: New Game "The Unremarkables" - Advice Sought A good idea, but I'm not so sure I want to direct them that much. I might do this as a backup for those players who are stumped or who just can't seem to grasp the concept, though such players might have trouble playing at all in such a setting.

Re: New Game "The Unremarkables" - Advice Sought

Re: New Game "The Unremarkables" - Advice Sought Inspirations were Unbreakable, Sin City, Green Mile, Road to Perdition, From Hell, as well as some stuff from Daredevil, Spawn, Punisher, and a lot of Vertigo titles. I am hoping that players will be sensible and open to a little creative "editing" if not.