Dino

Re: CyberComedy: Is it possible?

I can't believe no one's mentioned Max Headroom...

What are they teaching you kids in school these days?

Re: with the Disad Lockout

My personal opinion' date=' He is fishing for points. He just bought a 5th edition rule book and I think he is trying to cram something together as fast as he can. I fear he could be a rules lawyer.....[/quote']

 

You fear he could be a rules lawyer? Here's your proof:

 

The player keeps emailing me "The book says I can."

 

The appropriate response is "Yes, I understand that, but in this case I belive the book is wrong and that's how I'm going to rule it. Any other questions?"

 

Sometimes I miss the oldschool days when arguing with the GM was punishable by a rulebook upside the head...

Re: The things I've learned playing a Speedster...

The higher my speed, the less likely I'll ever get to go to the bathroom during the combat.

Re: A phaser in hero

The thing about dematerialization is that it's apparently "All or nothing."

 

I'm not sure it shouldn't be a Transform, actually, but if it's done as a Killing Attack, it needs a limitation that it either eliminates the target, or fails to effect it.

Extra-dimensional Movement (to the nearest cornfield), Usable as an Attack.

Re: Self-Aware Ammo

"Bomb 20. Please return to the bomb bay."

Re: UV vision

The Drow had ultravision...

Re: Hardcore hero?

Y'know, as often as that joke comes up, I'm getting more and more tempted all the time to simply write that sucker.

 

If I didn't think Steve, Darren, et. al. would be after me with pitchforks & torches, that is.

 

 

 

 

I know someone (who posts on these very boards) who already wrote it, way back in third edition.

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

Where did you find the pictures? I can usually find pictures for adults' date=' but sometimes I am afraid of what I might find if I tried to do a search for teen models.[/quote']

 

Follow the link in his sig.

 

IMDB is always a good start (though you can't copy thier pics directly).

Re: Ravenswood Academy Yearbook

This ain't the Real World.

Hear, Hear! People like attractive characters in thier TV shows, movies, and comic books, so why not in games? I can be ugly in real life. In my games I want to be larger than life.

My game group has been "bodycasting" as we call it, for years. It adds a visual depth to the game that even custom artwork can't match. Describing characters as real people allows you to take advantage of the players prejudices and preconceptions too; if you describe and NPC as beautiful, the players have to take your word for it, but if you cast that NPC as a real actor then the players can make up thier own minds how thier characters would react.

I find it promotes good roleplaying.

Re: Please Critique My First Character

I also don't recall him knowing any kind of martial arts' date=' or having a combat style you could even call a martial art[/quote']

 

You're kidding, right? Those shows (Herc and Xena both) made everyonea martial artist! Iolus and Herc usually ran around unarmed to boot. Definately MA. I'd give him full Defense Manuver as well for all those "we're surrounded" combats.

 

Anways, one particular Disad there botheres me most of all. "Always tries to do what's right (Very Common, Moderate)" seems to me to be a worthless Disad. Show me a protagonist appropriate to the setting that doesn't do this. To me, this is a given of any hero. A hero who for some reason is not like this should have a Psych Limit, not the other way around.

 

This is very much a campaign style issue. In my games, I like to think of Psych Lims as a reward for good character conception, not a negotiation for more points.

Re: The Ultimate Character Sheet

I for one wouldn't mind a character sheet with the picture and background first and the combat stuff last. Just a philosophy kind of thing.

Re: Do I Understand Naked Advantages? (I don't think I do)

A quick word of caution: IMO NPA's applied to Powers are great but NPA's applied to Martial Manuevers is a huge mistake.

Not to mention expressly forbidden in Ultimate Martial Artist.

Re: Difficulty reaching Super-Hero status

One of the joys of playing in higher point games is having the luxury of spending points on something other than powers. You've given yourself a conceptual cap on the effectiveness of the suit powers so I'd say that fleshing out your background is the way to go.

I have three words for you: skills, skills and yet more skills!

What did she do in the army? You have some soldier related skills, but depending on her specialty she could have things like climbing, breakfall, oratory, systems op, paramedics, etc. Don't forget hobbies or (literal) professional skills she picked up before or after the military, if nothing else, you can get some good comic relief from PS: Fast Food Worker. If grandpa was a superhero you could have a KS of his career and/or superheroes in general. How long has she had the suit? She could have skill levels with it's weapons and a KS of it's systems.

You could also have perks or disads related to the suit and the fact that she's a legacy hero. If any of her grandfather's allies or enemies are still around you could take them as contacts or hunteds. How about a reputation for the suit?

Re: Cyberpunk / Dystopian Adventure Formulas

Plus ca change ...

An important element of cyberpunk stories is the fact that nature abhors a vacuum. Any lasting change to the staus quo is likely to be rendered irrelevant soon after the characters finish thier job. If a megacorp goes under, it will be bought out by a bigger, nastier corp; if the PCs wipe out a street gang, an organized crime syndicate will take over thier drug dealing operations. The charaters can only really hope for small personal victories.

Re: Paladins of Venus

It depends of your definition of "Paladin". In D&D paladins are largely inspired by medieval concepts of chivalry and christan peity. A paladin has to embody the virtues of morality and justice, of which religious faith is but a part. Thats why all paladins are Lawful Good, even if they serve a god who is not. In this model, a paladin of (insert favorite love goddess) is likely to emphasize the "virtuous" aspects of his/her religion while downplaying any doctines that are controversial or morally questionable. Note that if the god/goddess of love/lust/beauty/etc. is considered a good and moral god, then thier worshipers may have rather open minded ideas about the morality of sex, marriage, and related issues.

A lot of people favor the idea of paladins as holy warriors who serve a particular god and embody whatever ideals thier god sets forth for his worshipers. In this model, even "evil" gods may have paladins, and they would likely be expected to adhere to the doctine of thier religion as much as, if not more than the clergy.

In either case, the personal duties and behavior of a paladin are largely dependent on the doctines of thier religion. If the goddess preaches free love, then her paladins are certainly going to support that. If she demands celibacy of her clergy, then they will abstain as an act of faith. If she favors personal responsibility in relationships, they may act as counselors or even marriage police, collecting child support from deadbeat dads and providing child services to the needy.

Re: Looking for a random familly event generator

You might want to see if you can track down some of the old Central Casting books. They were devoted to randomizing backgrounds and personal histories for characters in a given genre (I think they had a fantasy book and a sci-fi book). The books were system agnostic and sometimes silly, but you could get some good ideas from them.

Re: Your personal comic book origins

Captain Carrot.

I kid you not.

Re: New to game whcih books do I buy??

The main book has a very limited selection of martial arts write-ups, so if you are at all interested in the subject, the Ultimate Martial Artist is a must have.

Re: Luck System: Whimsy Cards

*cough*

 

Torg

 

*cough*

 

Like them.

Whimsy Cards predate TORG.

Re: How can Superheroes be deputized?

First off, in the real world, an FBI agent dosen't have the power to deputize anyone. The director of the FBI can probably make someone an agent regardless of qualifications but probably woundn't as the FBI prides itself on it's training and hireing standards.

This is not to say that in a superhero world, the FBI couldn't be given the responsability of "sanctioning" superheroes, in which case the PCs would likely have the same powers and responsabilities of any federal agent.

If you want a classic "I'll just deputize you and now all your law enforcement actions will be legitamized" kind of situation, then you want a Sheriff or at the federal level a US Marshall. Both historically, have had the power to call upon any able bodied person(s) to keep the peace and enforce the laws of the land. The Marshalls service in particular has a history of appointing "special deputies" to take care of problems not adequately covered by regular law enforcement agencies (think Wyatt Errp going after the Cowboys in the movie Tombstone).

Re: How to: Ego Roll Wall

I'm with Utech, Change Enviroment is the simple, safe, and sane answer.

Re: movement

I'm glad steph got her answer up front - we appear to have derailed her thread quite nicely.

Actually, I believe Steph is a man. But I don't know for sure (that's the problem with different languages + the internet).

Re: predatory martial art

The Hero Beastiary has an animal martial art write up called something like "Red in tooth and claw".

Re: Bodyjacking

There used to be a mental power called Dominate that was a sort of cross between Telepathy and Mind Control. It had it's own effect chart, where the better the Ego multiple you rolled the more control you had over both your target's and your own actions. I can't recall what book it was in though.

One problem you may run into is that Hero dosen't really make a game mechanical distiction between phyisical and mental powers and characteristics. Any power that does is going to require constant GM adjudication.

Re: weather control in space?

Depends on your definition of weather. Space "weather" dosen't really have anything to do with terrestrial weather, it's just called weather so people can more easily visualize it. As for generating a hydrosphere, it depends on wheather you are a weather summoner or a weather manipulator. The classic weather powers character is Storm from the X-Men. She manipulates existing weather conditions and so is limited to earth's atmosphere.