Scott Ruggels

When we playe, we never had metal miniatures, but were early adopters of the Cardboard Heroes from SJG, and Hero. But since our group had a pet artist, and access to good copiers, we made our own, But there was also a product/toy called "Shrinky Dinks, were whone would draw on a piece of plastic, and then put it in the oven and it would shrink to a particular fraction of it's original size, into a very durable and waterproof plastic superhero counter. All of the main PCs had one made for them, including a couple of the villains, but we used all of the agents, cops, innocent bystanders, and some fantasy creatures for our games back then.

I resented Magic, and the following CCG's as they sucked all the money out of Tabletop RPG's for a generation, as people chased the quick geek profits.

Learned this from Facebook this morning. Thirty Eight Years ago today, George McDonald, Steve Petersen, and Ray Greer birthed the system we all know and love. Cheers!

So...much.... disagreement. The first rule of tabletop is never inviting assholes in the first place. So one of the GM's first diktats is to not allow anyone to play the "asshole loner" type. You have to integrate in the rest of the group. Set expectations first, in terms of character types, and tone, so that expectations walling in are managed. As to Role play, "living inside someone else's head" for an evening is a very major attraction for Role Playing Games for me. Framing something else. "This is what My character would do", is a valid reasons IMO. I don't think that another character's reasons would need to be evident to the group, unless in game, and in character reasons were discovered. I find that the less OOC information is transmitted to the player, the easier it is to manage assumptions and expectations. For me it is the Role play and the character involvement that gives context to the dice rolling fights that arise from the situation. If I eschewed role play, I'd go back to straight war gaming, because I am not here to arive at the dinner table to participate in an unscripted radio drama about such and such characters. I am here for the role play, and for the tactical problems to puzzle through with my friends.

Role play is acting. The voice, the mannerisms, The predilections, that define the character. Character development is what happens over time. Felix 9 was a very rigid character, and changed slowly if at all. ( might be interesting to look at him in the 30 years since the end of the Cold War). Thunderbird changed quite a bit over time as he integrated more into the community. He went from a somewhat untrusting military know it all, to a smooth talking and confident spokesman for the team. The other team mates went from co-workers and colleagues, to friends.

and on another topic, pertinant to my Solar system game: https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/space-miners-race-to-an-asteroid-worth-quintillions

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/06/behind-the-scenes-at-nasas-newly-restored-historic-apollo-mission-control/

Hows progress? and how smooth?

in Bob Simpson's Campaign we trained "hard' for this and our team work was a well oiled machine, and wqe would often take down villains far above our weight, because we would cover each other and if someone went down, another with flight would do a moving grab bye on the downed character rather than taking an attack. we were also good at setting things up. But then we were a very tactically minded group(With a lot of heavy roleplay. The sessions between combats, could generate ulcers with Bob's use of DNPC's and Secret ID Job situations. He liked to twist the knife, sometimes XD>)

Well I seem to have two sets of Justice Inc in boxes . One unopened, the other used and abused. Yeah I miss boxes as well.

I'd whine about Copyrights, if I had not been an admin for a now long defunct art board and would have to patrol for "Art Theft". ack in the late 90's -early oughts. And yes I was all over the paper RPG inddustry back then, and was trying to get gigs illustrating for Analog and Asimov's, because of Janet Aulisio's work being both in Hero and those magazines. (Didn't make it though.) Currently trying to boost my skills to the base TSR levels in digital painting.

Oh easy, he just punched you in the gut and stole your lunch money, straight up.

Sounds like a good introductory session at a convention!

Sometimes it is not so much the number of CP, but how efficiently they are used. If you are inexperienced, and they know the system well you will be at a disadvantage. However,’if you are both of equal experience, then you’re fine. CP limits are intended for the players mostl. For the GM they just give them an idea of what sort of attacks they can dish out and receive. At no point does the GM need to observe the CP limitations, other than for good taste, and keeping from one shotting all of the Heroes. How else can a GM build a master villain that can stand up for a few turns against the entire team? Hello Mechanon? Hello Dr. Destroyer? As a GM, you have multiple ways to deal with this summoning, you could flatly deny the summoning as over budget, and tell the player to rebuild it under the guidelines. Or, you could allow it and start planning around it. Many villains are smart, and if they survive the fight they can compensate for it later. Look at the Disads, and exploit them if Necessary. You are the GM. But don’t be harsh about stuff. Remind all the players we are all here to have fun.

Yeah, Copyright, it’s why I can’t share scans from Rogues Gallery (except my own stuff) to this or other audiences n

So.... basically like a digital version of Rogues Gallery? I could actually see that working. For the graphically challenged, there would probably have to be a Word Template of some sort and editable tables, but I could see that working. Solicit ideas so you can have a batch of material ready per quarter, and build up a back log. and just keep pumping it out, regularly. Quality is what attracts customers. Consistency is what retains them.

Just the way, I liked it. XD

I worked on Cyberpunk 2020, which this game was based off of. Apparently Mike Pondsmith never gave up the rights. I am proud of him for that. Looking forward to this, even if my reflexes aren't what they were 15 years ago.

Here’s part of the problem. If you want sparkling artwork, very few people do that for free. Artists these days take a dim view of being paid in exposure, and those that do, either you are married to, best friends with, or , more commonly, aren’t of sufficient professional quality to attract sales. Canned art won’t make it any more,’either. This is just the art side. What about the writers? The various species of editors? Sure I can see someone reworking their personal campaign into an adventure book, simply for the love of the game, but art, and editorial, even for an unprinted PDF will still need to be paid for. I would love to illustrate stuff again, but other than one or two pieces to personal friends,’not without pay, and a contract. I suggest the writers take that into consideration too.

Congratulations!

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ THIS! ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

"You didn't ask?" XD> Oh I have had friends that ended up in Hollywood,, one of which won an Oscar for best special effects, but stuff like that doesn't come up all that often, it's Which cool Movie did you see last week? How are your kids? Did your wife ever decipher that particular in joke between us?" That sort of thing. I am still open for illustration gigs, and now, currently am working hard to get up to that TSR level of art, so I can do Digital paintings at a pace I could make money at. (even though I get more 3D model commissions these days).

Where do I start. I have done art for R. Talsorian Games’ TFOS, Cyberpunk 2020 and it’s supplements; Hero Games for Fantasy Hero, Danger International, and several Champions supplements(4e-5e); Tri-Tac System’s FTL 2448, Bureau 13, and various supplements; plus a few D20 supplements. Lots of game art in there but I also did comic book work for Antarctic Press, Radio Comix, and Graph-X-Press. Then I went into Video Game production..... But I Digress.

On a podcast about animation, and working within it, there was a discussion about Learning Styles, and the differences. The example was starting talking about "The Animators Survival Kit"by Richard Williams,on how valuable it was as an animation reference, and text book. But one of the two presenters then used that to jump off to extol the virtues of "The Illusion of Life" by the Senior Disney Animators, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. The other presenter acknowledges it was an important book, but could not get through it, and considered it a slog, and learned nothing, and then proceeded to exclaim the benefits of YouTube tutorials. The first presenter said that talking tutorials were in one ear, and out the other for him, and they surprised each other in how different their learning styles are. They mentioned a third style, but I forget at this time what it was. People learn in different ways, and I think that needs to be taken into account." In the times I taught people Hero, which admittedly were few, I would first go over the basics verbally, and then I would paperclip Hints and References to the outside of my GM Screen. A Page for the night's speed chart (one the combat started), a sheet with how to calculate what DCV you hit with your roll. I would also not conceal DCV's of the villains at first. I think having Laminated reference cards is a great idea, as well as having character sheets in sheet protectors, so you can mark the sheets the same way you can mark the hex mat. Miniatures are very important for new players to understand the spacial relationships and the context of their actions.

Well I do agree, mostly, however over time many superhero campaigns tended to slide more towards "spy thriller", and "urban crime", over time, as the players became smarter, and more experienced, with the campaigns eventually ending up firmly in Dark Champions territory. The cops can be allies but are bound by law and regulation. Politicians can be allies or enemies, based on how they cultivate their base. The criminal types, each have their own goals within that framework. Finally, the citizens, are individually different, and have their own points of view. Broadly, yes, its a Superhero Campaign, but elements from other genres do seep in, over a foundation of "Knowing what you know, what would you do in that situatuion?"