Hermit

Originally posted by zornwil

Q: So what's a fowl hunters' dream date?

 

A: Because Brad Pitt wasn't available.

Q: Why is Carrottop playing Captain America?

A: It's an exciting new direction, a proactive paradigm that's hip, trendy and now, mixing a classic feel with cutting edge.

You might consider it cliche', but in the comics anything doing with vibrations is another good way to shift someone over, especially if things didn't go as planned. If, for example, Kinetik of the Champions were racing at super speed and started to hit the soundbarrier just as he was hit by ARGENT's new experimental Vibratory Disruptor... it might interact, and drop him in another dimension (hey, it's how comic book science works).

In Champions 3-D, one suggested cause was a "Foil" who the PCs of one world ended up chasing from dimension to dimension.

NP, Nato.

Oh, and the review is up at RPGnet.

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9855.phtml

Pretty much the same thing as here though.

Re: Coolness factor - Mentalists or Mystics?

Originally posted by phydaux

I'm making a hero character for play in the OCU. I already know, mechanics wise, what I want the character to be - 75 point VPP with a few other OIFs to provide FF and DEX/SPD boosts, etc.

 

What I need help with is the coolness factor. I either want the character to be a Mentalist or a Mystic. I like the idea of a Mentalist (Ooo, don't read my mind...) but the OCU seems to have lots of opertunities for Mystics (Archmage, Tekofanes, DEMON, dueling magic sociaties, etc.)

 

What I'd like from the group is:

 

1) Why is one cooler than the other?

 

2) What are some cool names for a female character (I know... ANOTHER female mentalist/mystic...)?

1) Any archetype can be cool if you do it right So, I'd say Tie. However, generally, I'd say Mystics are often portrayed at more extremes. It's easier for them to be lame normally, but when they're cool , they're REALLY cool. Where as mentalists are okay to cool naturally, but rarely reach uber cool.

2. Names, it depends a lot on the FX of their powers. An ego blaster with a more 'raw' feel to her power might be called "Mindrender" where as one who has Telepathy as her strength might go by "Insight". For mystics, well, for some reason it seems female mystics are less concerned about trappings of a PHD But "Doctor (fill in blank)" is a classic. A fancy word ending in A is very appropriate. Again, Special effects make a difference "Bale" might make sense for someone with fire light magics, while "Lady Rune" would indicate she uses a lot of symbols. If she believes part of her magics come from her purity/virginity, then you could incorporate that with a name like "Almaphea" (from the Last Unicorn book), or "Silver" (often equated with the moon, and purifying), or "Lady Artemis" or "Lady Diana" (No relation to the princess, instead named in part after the goddess who turned men to stags if they dared look upon her naked form etc).

Well, back in my 4th Edition days, I had an all female group who's goal was aquiring cash, and lots of it.

Denim was the Brick of the group. Very tough

Lace was the mentalist, who's powers were not normally directly harmful, but still dangerous (Mind Control, Mental Illusions).

Leather was the whip wielding weapon master of the group, what else?

Satin was the speedster.

Silk had entangles thanks to her devices, and lead the group (Had a rivalry with Binder I think)

Yes, in a fit of 80's pop nostalgic madness, I had made "The Material Girls"

But I'm better now.

Originally posted by TheEmerged

Speaking for myself? I've always considered Secret ID to be one of the stupidest genre conventions of superhero fiction. I wouldn't be at all sad to see it go

I would. It takes a lot from the mythos; the duality of man and superman, the mundane and the miraculous. While there is more to a super hero genre than secret identies, the option of it holds a special place in it's foundation and feel. It shouldn't be ripped from it entire.

But that's just my opinion

A race that mixes viking raider and lawyer mentality? Cool!

(I think I'm scared tho... )

Originally posted by Tae Kwon Dan

Bought, downloaded, and printed.

 

You gotta love free printers at work.

Lucky. I wish I had a free printer

Uhm, folks, if anyone has their own review on it to post, even if it disagrees with mine (You are, after all, allowed to be wrong *loftily* ) please, go ahead and post it here. Others who might not have gotten it yet might appreciate different people's views.

I feel I must apologize for what I have wrought.

Thanks Nightfly, glad you enjoyed the review, and found it accurate

The plot seeds thing, well, that just sort of 'happened' , and worked out better than I ever hoped. Lots of people contributed great ideas, and then someone kindly compiled it and put it up as a resource.

There was a similar thread in the Company Question forum, and this was there

Originally posted by Polaris

In a posting on the GoO Blog (their "update the fans" portion of the webpage... kinda like the weekly update from Steve here) dated September 24, GoO announced that Reality Storm is being passed over to lay out. I am not sure how long it takes to get from lay out to production, but just wanted to pass on that it is making some progress...

 

Polaris

Don't know how much progress has been made since that post.

What others have suggested.

I'd say he'd have Stealth, and possibly security systems (not that heroes uhmm ever break and enter but ...gosh. )

Given how his parents were hurt, and how I'm sure he'd have the responsiblity of saving people's lives put into him over and over, I can't see him without trying to learn Paramedics.

Heck, in a bit of dark humor, you might even give him Demolitions, "Because Son, you never know when you'll have to defuse one...villains are nuts!"

Power wise, if you wanted to get fancy, you could indeed give him limited forms of telepathy or precognition with all sorts of limitations (ala dark champs) based on deduction or following his gut.

KS: History (super Humans) might also be a good one...from listening to all those war stories.

"Do you know who this guy IS? Microman, THE Microman .... he was a founder of the Sentinels"

Originally posted by Kristopher

I didn't mean to drag all this up...

Nah, not your fault. I think it was very cool of you to ask what the line was around here in the first place. Not many people take the feelings of others and the mores of an online forum into account like that.

You might also want to go (if you haven't already) and post in the Player Finder Forum. Increase your chances

I think the other went by various handles, including Night/Shadow Stalker and such. He even rather rudely PMed a few people to make snide comments.

But we should dwell on more pleasant things...

"Four arms on Grond and agents with blasters...

figuring out how to create the taskmaster,

How to bring Dark Sereph down, by gumming his wings?

This are a few of my favorite things..."

Oh, one other thing to consider is that villains and heroes can also have a natural 'Cyberpathy" as a power. If even ONE villain does, the govt is suddenly very vulnerable to it's own privacy violating equipment.

In fact, I can see Cybermind taking great enjoyment of downloading pictures of prominent businessmen, politicans, etc to the net in various situations (or states of dress) they might not want revealed. If the CU govt becomes aware their technology can be made to serve another, it maybe more reluctant to plant it everywhere. *EG*

Thoughts on AIs

22 years from now in a Super hero genre?

Hmm, well, it's 2003 in the REAL World, and I still don't own a flying car like I was promised.... and Buck Rogers wasn't launched in the last of the deep space probes in 89'. However, that's another gripe

I think true artificial intelligence might iht a snag that most Tech often squeeks by. If you want to delay or slow the progress (or at least release) of such tech, you could have some groups protesting it over ethical considerations. If you can create an intelligence, a sentient thing, what does that lead to? Slavery? A god complex among humanity?

Think how much debate is going over cloning issues in the real world and use that as a template somewhat.

Then there's the economic situation. If AIs are so smart, who needs people for some jobs? Even jobs that were previously untouched. Again, I think forces would move to curtail that just a bit.

Naturally, villains and heroes tend to work around such things, but hey

Yeah, speaking for myself, I find a warning before hand rather nice and appreciate it. So you seem to be on the right track to me.

I'm #$#$ing delicate, ya know?

Well, a Variation on this is the "Kulan Gath/Morgan Le Fey" style reality re-write occaisionally done in Marvel. I recall rather fondly the Marvel Team Up comic book where Kulan Gath tries to turn the world into a modern Hyboria type setting, only to be stopped by Spidey, and Mary Jane as Red Sonja

This gimick came up again in X-Men, and with Morgan in Avengers, but could easily be adapted to Champions. In fact, it looks like it already has. The Champions Universe has the good Doctor Wu looking to create a reality warping mirror

Well, for one thing, somewhere in Millennium City is a comment on how the city government declined to use the most intrusive and privacy invading of tech which apparently made the Vchips in the cars look down right friendly by comparison.

The rest... well, IMO there are some differences between comic book universes and the real deal. If it kills a major aspect of the genre, it's to be ignored-unless that's how the GM wants the campaign to go.

More the latter than the former, and sometimes I let the players help me... not that they know it. If one player theorizes in character that perhaps a crystaline villain might be damaged by vibratory effects.... if I think that's a good idea, I rip it off and use it... the player then thinks he figured it out , and I saved myself some effort

Originally posted by Steve Long

Thanx for the kind words, Hermit! Glad you're enjoying the product. Hopefully you'll find Allen's next adventure, Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth, equally cool.

You're welcome, and I am. I will be getting "...Tooth" , but it maybe awhile. This last year has me many months behind in the aquisition of some products. However, the quality of SoB has certianly forced me to bump STST from a "might get" to "It's a question of WHEN, not if..."

Originally posted by Tae Kwon Dan

Thanks Hermit, the discount at the online store bumped a lot of iffy things onto my radar and I wasn't sure if Black Paladin would make a good villian for my fledgling group. However, your sterling review makes me think the PDF is worth it for ideas or a future campaign alone.

 

IMO, It is. There is one map I plan on using for a map for a Hero or villain Base in the future. In addition to the full story already in there, Allen has thrown in a few additional plot seeds any GM can pursue. Even the "norms" your character will meet have more depth than I expected. There is potiential for PCs to make contacts, friendships, and even romances among them if they're so inclined and things work out that way.

Originally posted by Mike Basinger

Great review, you just made Hero Games $9.60 .

 

Mike

I did? Cool, perhaps Darren will give me a cookie.

Well, Monolith, I did just that. It should be up in a week if I understand things correctly, and I did make some adjustments to it, using their system instead of a scale of ten etc. Chief among them, I did add this caveat:

The only flaw I can find in what's provided is the aforementioned requirement of "Conquerers, Killers, and Crooks" and "Champions" for Black Paladin and Talisman respectively. It is also meant for more traditional

superheroes rather than 'Dark Champions' and other

'Judge/Jury/Executioner' types; I don't see that as a flaw, but others may.

I felt it was only fair to mention that and other than that, did give it the praise I thought was it's due.

Of course, now I'm paranoid folks will just accuse me of being a raving fanboy or something...

(Hermits are naturally shy, insecure creatures and must be approached carefully in the wild)