Scott Ruggels

What's a Grognard?
 
 

Those are from 1920s Germany along with the highly interesting Alraune who would make a good Poison Ivy style villainess but a century too late for BM II and III.  Doctor Mabuse was a true supervillain capable of impossible feats of disguise along with mind control and who repeatedly dies to come back in a new body.  

Wow! That whole process was almost as complicated as making a Champions character by hand . . . 

"You set the bar so low that I can pole-vault over it with a toothpick."

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was recently dropped on Youtube, and I spent Yesterday binge watching the whole first season (10 Episodes).  It's more li9ke Old Star Trek, than the excrable discovery, but the tone is a little off, a littl bt snarky around the edges, and the cast has a suspicious amount of women in it, but the stories in the broad strokes seemed very Star Trek, even if the details didn't. One of the Episodes, they redid a classic Star Trek Episode, and showed how a difference in approach lead to catastrophic consequences. Now it wan't as good as the Third Season of Picard, and there were echoes of Discovery in the first two episodes. The Smell of Michael Burnham had not yet oleft the room. Speaking of rooms, the sets were enormous!  this version of the Enterprise was gigantic on the inside, and the use of a Ski Resort firepit in the captain's cabin was a ludicrous touch of interior design.On tyhe whole, it's better than Discovery, but not as good at 3rd Season Picard.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was recently dropped on Youtube, and I spent Yesterday binge watching the whole first season (10 Episodes).  It's more li9ke Old Star Trek, than the excrable discovery, but the tone is a little off, a littl bt snarky around the edges, and the cast has a suspicious amount of women in it, but the stories in the broad strokes seemed very Star Trek, even if the details didn't. One of the Episodes, they redid a classic Star Trek Episode, and showed how a difference in approach lead to catastrophic consequences. Now it wan't as good as the Third Season of Picard, and there were echoes of Discovery in the first two episodes. The Smell of Michael Burnham had not yet oleft the room. Speaking of rooms, the sets were enormous!  this version of the Enterprise was gigantic on the inside, and the use of a Ski Resort firepit in the captain's cabin was a ludicrous touch of interior design.On tyhe whole, it's better than Discovery, but not as good at 3rd Season Picard.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was recently dropped on Youtube, and I spent Yesterday binge watching the whole first season (10 Episodes).  It's more li9ke Old Star Trek, than the excrable discovery, but the tone is a little off, a littl bt snarky around the edges, and the cast has a suspicious amount of women in it, but the stories in the broad strokes seemed very Star Trek, even if the details didn't. One of the Episodes, they redid a classic Star Trek Episode, and showed how a difference in approach lead to catastrophic consequences. Now it wan't as good as the Third Season of Picard, and there were echoes of Discovery in the first two episodes. The Smell of Michael Burnham had not yet oleft the room. Speaking of rooms, the sets were enormous!  this version of the Enterprise was gigantic on the inside, and the use of a Ski Resort firepit in the captain's cabin was a ludicrous touch of interior design.On tyhe whole, it's better than Discovery, but not as good at 3rd Season Picard.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was recently dropped on Youtube, and I spent Yesterday binge watching the whole first season (10 Episodes).  It's more li9ke Old Star Trek, than the excrable discovery, but the tone is a little off, a littl bt snarky around the edges, and the cast has a suspicious amount of women in it, but the stories in the broad strokes seemed very Star Trek, even if the details didn't. One of the Episodes, they redid a classic Star Trek Episode, and showed how a difference in approach lead to catastrophic consequences. Now it wan't as good as the Third Season of Picard, and there were echoes of Discovery in the first two episodes. The Smell of Michael Burnham had not yet oleft the room. Speaking of rooms, the sets were enormous!  this version of the Enterprise was gigantic on the inside, and the use of a Ski Resort firepit in the captain's cabin was a ludicrous touch of interior design.On tyhe whole, it's better than Discovery, but not as good at 3rd Season Picard.

This is an interesting scenario with a lot of different ways to play out at the table. I'd be interested in hearing about how it goes for anybody who gets a chance to run this.
 
If I wanted to guess how things will turn out then I suppose it would depend a great deal on what the dragon's government was like before it was deposed. If the dragon was mostly hands-off and left the day-to-day running of the country to mortal servants then that infrastructure could quite easily survive the transition. People probably won't approve of the dragon's servants, but political inertia and the fact that they're the ones paying the wages for the armies and mercenaries will go a long way to keeping them in power. There would be a number of better options for government, no doubt, and many will spring up in the wake of the dragon's death, but I can easily see these reformist factions fighting each other over the best way to fix everything unless you give them something to rally around. Of course, I'm sure the heroes who slew the dragon could serve as this focus for a new society, if they were so inclined.
 
On the other hand, if the dragon was a micro-manager who had to oversee every stage of the government machine no matter how inefficient it was (in the way that a lot of dictators tend to do in real life) then there's the possibility that whatever political apparatus is in place isn't robust enough to handle its overlord disappearing. If the country is wholly focused around the dragon as the supreme ruler then it might not have enough redundancy in place to cope, which would create an opening for a more radical faction to take over.
 
So a lot of this scenario would depend on what kind of ruler you see the Dragon King as having been, to my mind. While I can see the appeal of a truly intelligent dragon who defies convention by setting up an efficient society, I do think it's not unlikely that the sort of personality given to this kind of dictatorship be the sort to run it haphazardly. Horses for courses and all that.

I get what they were thinking: "what if you want a different fade rate on your drain than on your aid?" but to me  there could be other ways of handling it, such as an average of the two rates (1 hour and 5 minutes = 20 minutes average for the advantage cost, round up).  I just do not like breaking up stuff like Transfer, it was such a clear, easy-to-use power as it was.  I think they should have left it as-is, then let people do the Drain/Aid shuffle if they wanted really different modifiers on each power.

Fixed that to Transfer.
 
The issues with Transfer started in prior editions.  A Transfer is a Drain with a linked Aid, self only, costs END.  When we started getting rulings like the Drain part would fail if the Aid part was maxed out, or the Drain had to be divided among the targets within an AoE rather than affecting them all, or needing to buy delayed recovery or expanded effect twice if you wanted it to affect both parts...well, let's just say my thinking was not complimentary.
 
Break them into their two components and they work fine again.
 
That's not to say we could not make a baseline Transfer that combines the two with neither having modifiers, for a simpler purchase option, but it should not be markedly more expensive to do the same thing with Transfer as with a Linked Aid and Drain.

See, that is where I think Complete books should diverge from the toolkit books.
 
Instant change should be a talent presented as a "thing" in Champions.  Pay the cost, here us what it does, in text, not gamespeak.  Each genre should gave a chunk of things like that which are just given a cost and an explanation in the rulebook.  There can be an annex showing how it was put together (for the toolkit-interested).
 
Doc
 

I know Dennis a little.  For the 40th Anniversary at Steve Petersen’s house, he brought photos and a portfolio of his work.  All of the cardboard heroes were generated new because they needed front and back views.  The colors were P. H. Martin’s vibrant watercolors.  They were done 150% scale and reduced for printing.  They were originally made for Steve Jackson’s The Fantasy Trip, but Aaron convinced Steve to make sets for Champions.  

Like Duke, I live for those “all ones”, situations. Those are the stories I prefer rather than the player fiction that a lot of modern games pursue. 
 
 
For us, victory was achieved by teamwork, and coordination, rather than an expectation of a single team member clocking the bad guy with a perfectly timed soliloquy and punch. I will admit, that on the subject of superheroes, I am Lukewarm, but will play with good GMs and I had an embarrassment of riches, with my high school group, The Heroes of Hero Games, and the ‘zine writers. But other than Champions, I didn’t seek it out. Therefore I have no experience with other superhero systems like FASERIP. Most other systems seemed illogical when compared to Champions. 
 

If the moment is supposed to be that important, then why does it require a die roll in the first place? The GM could just hand it to the player, if it is that important. A lot of incidents occur in a character’s blue book without rolls. Another way to handle it would be to hand the players a card that just has “successful roll, can only be used once. Choose wisely. “. This also decouples it from the experience points. 
 
Now I took a more sports oriented attitude about victories in Champions games. It was a team effort, won through effective teamwork, tactical coordination, knowledge and research (detective work by the team), and training (we would game danger room scenarios to try new formations and tactics). Sometimes team members had dice lice and could not roll below a 15 all night, but that’s when the other team members could cover for them. But if it’s important for that one player to get their “one, shining moment of awesome”, then allow them the card. Otherwise it’s nearly alien to me, unless it was a team effort. 
 
 
 

Like Duke, I live for those “all ones”, situations. Those are the stories I prefer rather than the player fiction that a lot of modern games pursue. 
 
 
For us, victory was achieved by teamwork, and coordination, rather than an expectation of a single team member clocking the bad guy with a perfectly timed soliloquy and punch. I will admit, that on the subject of superheroes, I am Lukewarm, but will play with good GMs and I had an embarrassment of riches, with my high school group, The Heroes of Hero Games, and the ‘zine writers. But other than Champions, I didn’t seek it out. Therefore I have no experience with other superhero systems like FASERIP. Most other systems seemed illogical when compared to Champions. 
 

If the moment is supposed to be that important, then why does it require a die roll in the first place? The GM could just hand it to the player, if it is that important. A lot of incidents occur in a character’s blue book without rolls. Another way to handle it would be to hand the players a card that just has “successful roll, can only be used once. Choose wisely. “. This also decouples it from the experience points. 
 
Now I took a more sports oriented attitude about victories in Champions games. It was a team effort, won through effective teamwork, tactical coordination, knowledge and research (detective work by the team), and training (we would game danger room scenarios to try new formations and tactics). Sometimes team members had dice lice and could not roll below a 15 all night, but that’s when the other team members could cover for them. But if it’s important for that one player to get their “one, shining moment of awesome”, then allow them the card. Otherwise it’s nearly alien to me, unless it was a team effort. 
 
 
 

https://www.space.com/boeing-starliner-crew-flight-test-flight-review-may-2023
 
Boeing is having more difficulties with their Starliner.

View my comment above about a PC falling behind.  Given your usual roll for damage is 8-10 dice, this means, in the case mentioned, burning at least 6-8 exp.  At 1-2 exp per session, that is four sessions minimum, six on average.  What can I get for 6-8 exp?
 
Two new skills
+1 all combat
A new talent or two
+3" fly at 1/2 end
Yeah..... no thanks.
 
Please get away from this idea of burning exp. for dice rolls.  It looks cool, but in reality it is a death spiral as the PC that uses it is now in a hole compared to the rest of the group.
 
I am going to go heretical here and refer to ADnD.  For the quick benefit now, you get NO Exp. for the next 4-6 sessions.  It matters not the level, you get NO EXP.  Now all you group mates are at least one and maybe two levels higher, with the extra to hit, HP, skills, skill checks, spells, special abilities.  NOPE!

Like Duke, I live for those “all ones”, situations. Those are the stories I prefer rather than the player fiction that a lot of modern games pursue. 
 
 
For us, victory was achieved by teamwork, and coordination, rather than an expectation of a single team member clocking the bad guy with a perfectly timed soliloquy and punch. I will admit, that on the subject of superheroes, I am Lukewarm, but will play with good GMs and I had an embarrassment of riches, with my high school group, The Heroes of Hero Games, and the ‘zine writers. But other than Champions, I didn’t seek it out. Therefore I have no experience with other superhero systems like FASERIP. Most other systems seemed illogical when compared to Champions. 
 

If the moment is supposed to be that important, then why does it require a die roll in the first place? The GM could just hand it to the player, if it is that important. A lot of incidents occur in a character’s blue book without rolls. Another way to handle it would be to hand the players a card that just has “successful roll, can only be used once. Choose wisely. “. This also decouples it from the experience points. 
 
Now I took a more sports oriented attitude about victories in Champions games. It was a team effort, won through effective teamwork, tactical coordination, knowledge and research (detective work by the team), and training (we would game danger room scenarios to try new formations and tactics). Sometimes team members had dice lice and could not roll below a 15 all night, but that’s when the other team members could cover for them. But if it’s important for that one player to get their “one, shining moment of awesome”, then allow them the card. Otherwise it’s nearly alien to me, unless it was a team effort. 
 
 
 

In fact, religion was so powerful a social force during the medieval period the pope could excommunicate a king, which had dire consequences for the country he ruled. Likewise a powerful mullah could do the same in the Islamic world. I do not know enough about the orient to say but suspect the same. In a world where "evil" is physically manifested (demons, undead, monsters of every stripe) religion would hold an extreme amount of power. With divine interventions possible, to be agnostic let alone atheist. 

See?  I _live_ for moments like that in a game.
 
When you tell the stories of game sessions long ago, how many tales do you tell of "everything went exactly the way I expected / wanted"  versus the number of tales you tell of the most miraculous and the most miserable of die rolls?
 
And even when it's bad dice, the tales most often have further tales of the astounding ways you coped on the fly.
 
They are more memorable than "I re-rolled it until I got what I wanted" or "I burned some brownie points to make come out fine."
 
 
 
 
Yet another thing I enjoy about wild die rolls.  How does it affect the game?  What do we as a group do to keep things moving?
 
 
Anyway, I know that you aren't me, but other than Scott, I am rather in the minority here on the "don't like them" side of "how do we change the dice?"
 
I mean, we don't have to use them at all- there are lots of systems that don't.  I find little reason to use them right up until I am not happy with them.
 
Or maybe I am happy with then no matter what, as they are extremely impartial arbiters of what went down and what we have to deal with now.
 
 

Pathfinder : Hell's Bright Shadow - Runing Up That Hill
 
Ayva and Civilla have combined their art and magic skills to create a painted construct version of Nox, Thrune’s late bodyguard. In a move that will no doubt infuriate Thrune when he finds out, the fake Nox is clearly now ‘redeemed’ and a follower of the good gods, in the form of less black leather. There’s also the advantage that the painted version is mostly unkillable.
 
Civilla: ‘We killed the traitor! Wait, she’s back’
Ayva: It could be a hundred years later and the painted version will still be protecting this city. I love that. 
 
They can even hide her inside a separate painted locket.
 
It’s probably just as well that Terzo isn’t around for some of his colleagues' discussions, such as their thoughts about a blood bank run by vampires.
 
Rajira: Bloooood.
Ayva: It’s the currency of the soul.
 
Ayva: ‘This one must be a diabetic, it’s quite nice.’
Rajira: ‘Very Sweet.’
 
Apparently this week we have to deal with the mountain fortress in the Menador Gap, one of the main passes between Kintargo and the bulk of the Chellish Empire - the most important pass now the Glorious Reclamation elsewhere in Chelliax is causing major international problems.
 
Terzo: How much do you want to bet they've improved their security protocols after that time we walked into the prison and walked out with all the prisoners.
Rajira: It’s hard to improve your security when you don’t know what went wrong.
 
Leaving nobody alive behind you (and more then once, no bodies either) is helpful that way.
 
GM: I need to send you some more images for NPC standees, the pawn package was missing some.
Rajira’s player: … oh, P. A. W. N. 
Terzo’s player: I was wondering.
Rajira’s player: Hey, I‘m Calistrian, we’re open-minded.
 
Our ally Raxus discovered something rather interesting about the keep - apparently the dwarven engineers that built the place included a self-destruct mechanism in case the pass had to be sealed completely. The Silver Ravens intended to use the mechanism, or an Earthquake spell, and weren’t particularly concerned by the subsequent loss of life since the keep is currently held by troops loyal to House Thrune. Lictor Octavio Sabinus, formerly of the Hellknight Order of the Torrent, points out that even a spell of that magnitude might not destroy the fortress, and might kill or destroy valuable prisoners, magical items, or information. And anyway, leaving any survivors is out-of-character of the Ghosts of Kintargo.

Terzo: I regret to say my first question is ‘how many taverns are there between Kintargo and the mountains’, because I can’t carry that much booze.
 
Fortunately the rebellion has enough funds and allies now that Terzo can acquire a second carriage and footmen we can actually trust. 
 
The current commander of the keep is one Lucian Thrune, who is not exactly pleased about being way out here, although it does keep him out of harm's way of the Glorious Reclamation, and rumour says he isn’t getting much sleep due to understandable stress.
 
Civilla: Interesting, interesting
Ayva: I can hear the evil laughter from here, Civilla
Rajira: I don’t suppose you have any dream magic?
Civilla: Funny you should mention that…
 
Lucien also has a pet wyvern that he raised from an egg. And they’re pretty scrupulous about only letting merchants with the proper papers, known agents of Thrune, and members of the Church of Asmodeus, into the keep and through the pass. The best idea we can come up with to get inside the keep and not be watched too closely is if we pretend to be retainers of House Thrune, there to collect a high-value prisoner on behalf of Lord Inquisitor Barzillai. Lucian Thrune might well have questions, but we can honestly say that the Inquisitor isn’t going to tell his minions anything they don’t need to know.
 
Civilla: ‘We don’t know the name of the prisoner, we don't know who is delivering them, our orders are simply to collect the prisoner and return to Kintargo.’
 
Of course we’ll have to have suitable uniforms, paperwork, and repaint one of the carriages.
 
Terzo OoC: So, anybody know the nearest chop shop?
Ayva OoC: Yes, the local butcher does a good line in sausages.
 
Fortunately, even when he rolls a Nat 1, Terzo’s Diplomacy is high enough that he clears the Ears of the City check and confirms that the soldiers in the Keep have heard all kinds of rumours about Nox - that she’s variously been killed, on a secret mission for House Thrune, or that she turned traitor, was captured, and welded into her own armour. We might still be able to use the fake Nox as a decoy.
 
Keep Soldier: Hail travelers! I must inform you that passage through the Gap is currently restricted! State your business!
‘Sergeant’ Rajira : *salutes* Soldiers of Thrune! Here to collect a prisoner! *holds up forged letters*
Keep Soldier: Enter for inspection! Open the gate!
Rajira: Come on you slovenly lot! And don’t embarrass me!
 
Ayva (not entirely out of character): It’s not that we mind the city being put under an iron boot, we just object to it not being OUR iron boot.
 
There are eight armed soldiers in the courtyard, and Lucian Thrune.
 
Ayva: Fortunately this courtyard is the exact right size and shape for a Fireball. 
 
Lucian doesn’t look like he’s slept in days. Rajira salutes and bows, explains why we’re supposedly here, and hands over the documents, which drip with all the dire penalties one might expect for anybody impeding the mission.
 
GM: *sigh* and like so many of the NPCs in this adventure Lucian does not have a Sense Motive skill.
 
Lucian directs us to the common rooms for now. Apparently he has some kind of minor genie servant, by the name of Zorumar, who doesn’t look very happy about being at Lucian Thrune’s beck and call, or being ordered to provide us with food and refreshments. 
 
‘Sergeant’ Rajira: Line up, you lot and look grateful!
Ayva: We are grateful for the slop we are about to receive!
‘Corporal’ Civilla: That might offend our hosts.
Ayva: Sir! Sorry Sir!
‘Sergeant’ Rajira: I’m a sergeant, I work for a living.
 
At least Zorumar appreciates our thanks, and even apologises that he can’t provide more than Created Food And Water for now. Rajira dismisses the rest of us and Terzo sidles off to join the nearest card game. Rajira and Civilla get one of the guest rooms - the rest of our party will be staying in the barracks. Apparently Zorumar cooks all the food for the keep, and does the cleaning, and is forbidden from using any of his magic apart from Create Food and Water. That does suggest one ‘in’ for us - if Sergeant Rajira orders us to help with the cleaning rather than stand around like soldiers with too much time on their hands, we’ll get a good look around. Instead, Civilla plans to send the fake Nox out to look around the fortress - she’s a very sneaky painting. And, after all, ‘Nox’ will be making a dramatic appearance as the keep is destroyed, anyway. 
 
Civilla has her Homunculus to scout out the keep while Terzo keeps the garrison amused with a singalong, but it couldn't find the self-destruct. Although there was a whole bit with the wyvern scaring the pants off Civilla when she was looking through the eyes of her homunculus and it got within licking distance...
 
Instead, we take advantage of Lucian Thrune’s massive sleep debt - it would seem he’s been hitting the Mwangian Marching Powder hard. One Sleep spell from Terzo cancels all the effects of the Insomnia Powder, and the commander promptly passes out. Rajira helpfully gives him an ear exam with a six-inch dagger.
 
Then we made friends with his captive Genie, who does know where the self-destruct is.
 
Terzo OoC: So as usual we identified and recruited everybody that was here under duress, and are preparing to murder everybody else
Rajira OoC: Yup. Civilla even talked the Genie into rescuing the two halflings in the cells when he leaves.
 
Civilla: Unfortunately none of us are dwarves, although Terzo might pass. 
Terzo: Alas, I brought wine, not ale.
 
The route to the Big Red Button has statues, which is about as likely to instill paranoia as a hall lined with suits of armour. There’s also pretty clear evidence that the dwarves set this place to their own tastes, so it’s just as well that we know enough about other religions (despite Chellish laws) to fake it. Unfortunately the security systems can also detect Evil, which means they take considerable interest in some of the party members. 
 
Terzo: Well, clearly they’re faulty, none of my friends are Evil.
Civilla: You KNOW some of us are selfish. You KNOW this.
Terzo OoC: And Denial is not just a river in Osirion.
Ayva OoC: Yes, it runs through some other countries too.
 
Although it turns out the actual problem is some of the equipment Rajira is using. Civilla conceals her true Alignment as a matter of course. Rajira hurriedly changes what she reads as.
 
Archon: WHY HAVE YOU COME
Rajira: To destroy this structure
Civilla: *headdesk* Because the gates have been taken by the enemy - forces loyal to Asmodeus.
 
Civilla: They’re ARCHONS, they probably aren’t even aware that Cheliax exists, that’s Prime Material Plane business.
 
Archon: So the time has come to destroy the keep. Make sure you set the timer correctly. 
Civilla: Right, how do we do that, exactly?
 
It’s also fortunate that Civilla’s insatiable appetite for book-learning included Dwarven Runes and engineering.
 
Civilla: This is arcane. In the normal sense, not the magical one, I mean. They’ve used fifteen different versions of the word for ‘chain’ and every different version for ‘crank’!
Terzo: Knowing dwarves, this probably wasn’t innuendo?
Ayva: Not unless they had a really intense fetish for technobabble.
 
It’s also pretty important that we know which timekeeping system the builders used - not a simple question. Hopefully we’ve set it to go off in 20 minutes. Even more hopefully, the garrison don’t stop us from leaving. Happily, it’s not like we had to fight our way out again. We can very easily claim to have received new orders by Shadow Eagle. 
 
Civilla: They kinda want us to leave anyway.
Terzo: Surely my singing wasn’t that bad.
Ayva: I would never tell you that.
 
We’re watching from a safe distance as the ground starts to shake, the building starts to crumble, and the mountain pass collapses into impassable rubble.
 
GM: For once, you guys are the load-bearing boss.
 
Terzo: I am feeling a bit guilty about that - these guys were just soldiers. It’s not like they were torturers or redactors.
Civilla: If they didn’t get out when the building started shaking it’s their own damn fault.
Rajira: You fight for Cheliax, you get the horns.
 
A few of the rank-and-file were fast enough to get out. The wyvern flies in circles over the wreckage, looking for its master.
 
Rajira: That’s the one I feel bad about, it’s just an animal.
Civilla: Rajira, Rajira, don’t weep for the stupid. You’ll be at it all day.
 
Zorumar, as promised, has left the halfling prisoners near our disguised carriage, and a generous gift for freeing him - a magic carpet. The halflings would no doubt prefer to escape to freedom, but it is unfortunately probably safer for them to stay with us, and act as Civilla’s slaves, which is the usual fate of halflings in the Chellish empire. But destroying the keep is very clear evidence that there is an organized conspiracy against Barzillai Thrune. He might well take the rumours seriously, now. Especially when we have our fake Nox drag some of the survivors out of the rubble, saying only “I’m sorry, but it had to be done”. There’s also the factor that our rebellion contacts and cells are so thoroughly established around Kintargo that it’s our influence, and not Thrune’s jackbooted thugs, that’s keeping the streets quiet. In fact a good number of his street patrols are actually on our side.
 
Civilla: Most rebellions fail because they launch their takeover before they have the populace on their side. We are not going to make that mistake.
 
Barzillai Thrune: It’s quiet. Too quiet. *distant boom* What was that? 
Minion: Uh… that was our only access to reinforcements. 
 

we've a had a bunch of missed sessions and the Cthulhu campaign collapsed for want of regularly available players. I WAS going to be playing in a 40K campaign where we were intending to play a team of rogue repairmen, but my wife put her foot down. I'll be posting more tonight, though

It is that “guarantee”, that I take as the root of my objections.  Shifts it from a game, to a work of player fiction. 

It is that “guarantee”, that I take as the root of my objections.  Shifts it from a game, to a work of player fiction.