ahduval

For anyone that is interested, I have taken the plunge. The game is called hero Academy (because I am just full of creativity, especially before work.) it can be found at http://www.ongoingworlds.com/games/3958 I hope I have sparked at least some interest and if anyone has additional questions, please ask.

I don't know if these youtubers are accurate, but I think they make some good points. The TRUTH about padded and leather armor (Gambeson / Aketon) Testing the effectiveness of a spear throw against padded armor

Thanks for your interest. Feel free to ask even more questions. 6th edition modified for play by post: lessons I’ve learned * no speed characteristic * no end, no body: instead role playing results * standard effects I do expect combat, what superhero campaign doesn’t have combat, but should be as brief as possible, moving quickly. powers to avoid include those indicated with a stop sign such as clairsentience and dimensional travel, Archetype to avoid: due to technology, iron man types and gadgeteers would be difficult. Also any PCs would have to be approved. Space aliens are unknown. I also want the PCs to be teens, with either teen dramatics and or not perfect with their powers. They might not even now all their abilities. Also, while unusual appearances are fine, they should somewhat fit into normal society. Setting for the campaign: I love Marvel’s real world (mostly) concept. But I also love DC’s fictional cities (Gotham and especially Opal City. Therefore I made a minor change to history. The PC’s will attend a special/secret program at a standard boarding school. The island is real (Anticosti, which is in the middle of the St. Lawrence seaway), the city is fictional. Time period is today. Salad bar approach, with the exception of the only ‘super’ tech is the team’s suits (I wanted to make sure that if one character’s concept included no defense, that they couldn’t be offed by a paperclip.) There has been supers before, but it seems like these students are more powerful than many before. Yes costumes w/ masks and code names, although not required to bring them with them. or for the PCs to have any experience in this world. Morality: I want the PCs to be heroes, but their personalty would be up to the player. Although lone-wolf characters should be either like Batman, with his countless allies or Wolverine(s) who seem to be always on a team or have a partner(s)., PCs are the students, but if you help GM than you’ll be able to control any other NPC. Sources of Inspiration are widespread: Comic-books from Marvel and DC (New Mutants, Generation X, Teen Titans, Young Justice, Starman) , Antarctic Press (Warrior Nun, Gold Digger, Ninja High School) Non comicbook authors include Mercedes Lackey, Jim Butcher, Ben Aaronavitch, Charles Stross plus world mythologies and folklore, SCP, and Lovecraftian and probably more that I am forgetting. Preview of the setting (which yes, I have used before): The island of Anticosti is a federal district of the United States. The city is called Liberty City. Notable features: The United Nations is headquartered in the NW part of Liberty City. The eastern part of the island is dominated by a large multi-branch military base. There are a number of rumors on what really happens on base. The college Barnheart , can be found south of the academy, is a typical New England small liberal arts college. There are many stories on what one can find in the library and the tunnels. University of Liberty can be found east of down-town. While the college is known for its liberal arts, the University is more known for its science and engineering departments. The academy,college, and university have a number of agreements to share resources. James Madison Academy A boarding school located outside the main city, toward the middle of the island. Co-ed, includes students from grade 8-12. On the north side can be found the dorms and the dining commons. The south side has the classrooms. Between the dorms and classroom is a large library with the school auditorium, and the administrative building and the athletics building. Further south of the classrooms , the sports-fields can be found. Near the campus. To the north and west can be found a large municipal park, mostly wilderness, it provides the city with necessary recreational space. Beyond the campus can be found Robert Smith memorial garden. Here can found not only a place to honor veterans, but also the important people of Liberty City’s memorials. It is known for the various architecture themes. Tours are regularly available.

I am interested in starting a play-by-post campaign theme of teen supers, using a lite version of Champions. Thinking of using the platform ongoingworlds.com, unless there is a better one. looking for players and also one or two co-gms to join me. Please reply with interest or questions. ahduval

Re: Welcome to McGuffins. May I take your order? Another 'real world' mcguffin is the Lance of Longinus. Previous owners (according to legend) include Charlemagne, Napoleon, and Hitler. Possessing the spear meant being undefeatable. (of course the legend also says losing it means death to the previous owner.) In the DC comics it was also used to explain why the JSA didn't just invade and conquer the Nazis by themselves, since as soon as someone with superpowers would cross into German occupied Europe, they would become mind-controlled into fighting for the Nazis.

Re: Help me flesh this out... Yes, that book is the first of the series.

Re: How would you build a digital camera? Personally, I am of the simpler the better. Sure, I could assign every common item HERO abilities. But for those items that most have access to and don't affect much game wise I would probably use the stats one can find in a catalog/magazine and quickly estimate body/defense (in case the PC asks me how much additional damage one can do with one or how much damage it could absorb) And of course in a Super's campaign, I would expect that any normal camera would be comparably fragile. Not to mention the fun one could have if a super's camera is stolen/misplaced.

Re: Help me flesh this out... This sounds sort of similar to the Wildcards world. Not only do you have the manufactured virus affecting a large population, you also have differing opinions on what the virus means. Some hail those with the virus as favored (especially if they are Ace's, Supers with no distinctive looks) Other people/religions look as those with powers as accursed (especially if they are Jokers, those frequently with grotesque appearances) The Jokers have their own church, which they call Jesus Christ, Joker where Jesus is depicted as a Joker. I recommend getting the novels as they do a good job of setting up the ramifications of such a super world. Also a GURPS supplement was published a while back, but that might be harder to find.

Re: Between Two Cities A possibility if one wanted to do sort of a sendup to the old JLA headquarters (a cave outside a small/medium sized city), One can base a group in Warren, Ohio (although there aren't any caves in the area that I know of.) You would then be within 120 miles of Cleveland, Ohio; Erie,PA; and Pittsburgh, PA. (It could also be interesting as Cleveland and Pittsburgh have an active rivalry as one can see in their football rivalry.) Also, if one wanted an underwater base there are several salt mines under Lake Erie.

Re: US Army Insignia And for those looking for more than US Army Insignia, there is the very comprehensive: world rank insignia However, while I feel the site is very useful, they seem to use an extraordinary number of pop under ads.

Re: what non-fiction books have you read? please rate it ... The last book, that in fact I am still reading, is Out of the Fames by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone. I first got interested in the authors from their previous books about their own experiences becoming book collectors. (which I also highly recommend). This book was the only one by the authors that I could find at my local bookstore. It is the tale of Michael Servetus and his interactions with 16th century Europe. Personally, I wish that this book was available when I took the History of the Reformation in College. It would have made the subject material considerably less dry than the seemingly endless leaders and their dogmas that we covered. Michael Servetus was literally a genius. However one of the first books he wrote/published was a book that repudiated the Trinity and his relations with both the Catholic Church and the more conservative side of the Reformation goes downhill. Servetus life ends being burned to a stake for heresy, with his book lashed to him. All his books were supposedly destroyed. This eminently readable book gives a glimpse of many of the major players in Europe, the political, religious, and philosophical, and while brief gives enough details to immerse one into the time period. After Servetus dies the book covers the emergence of three of his books and the people who pursued them, some successfully, and others not as much. Quotes that I had to share (not directly related to the main story, I would rather people read that for themselves): About the Borgias, Max Beerbohm observed "No Roman ever was able to say, 'I dined last night with the Borgias.'"(34) About the 30 Year Wars: "In the Netherlands they had eaten rats and leather to survive; in Germany they ate each other" . . . "there were 21 million people living in Germany in 1618, at the start of the war; by 1648, the war's end, only 13 million were left."(214) About a printer who made a limited print run of Servetus' work (who in fact probably was selling them as genuine): "Murr may have been a great scholar, but he obviously underestimated the difficulty of translating book knowledge into practical applications, and it cost him dearly. In 1811, at age seventy-eight, after reading a medical manual, he inexpertly attempted to use a catheter on himself and died in both extreme pain and acute embarrassment."(275) This book is highly recommended.

Re: what non-fiction books have you read? please rate it ... The third book I read recently was Brunelleschi's Dome:How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King. This book tells the tale of Filippo Brunelleschi and how he spanned a dome at the unheard of ,and still hard to beat, span of 140 feet. Along with his inspiration the author covers his rival. Along with the shear magnitude of building such a building, details are given for further inventions, such as hoists that would bring the tools up to the workplace, although it was soon ruled that the workman couldn't use the hoist to get themselves up to work. Filippo Brunelleschi is one of the first architects that we know their name, and for good reasons this hot headed genius deserves all the fame he can get. Recommended.

Re: what non-fiction books have you read? please rate it ... The next book recently read is The Island of Lost Maps : A True Story of Cartographic Crime by Miles Harvey. The author intersperses the true story of Gilbert Bland with the History of Maps and printing from the 16th century into the 18th century. Gilbert Bland was (until he got caught) successful and stealing maps from rare book libraries (cutting them from the books) and selling them to collectors. He was caught in the act of stealing in Maryland and who he is and why he committed crimes is explored. The history of maps and map makers is covered. The most interesting thing about this is how, especially in the earliest days, maps were considered state secrets of the highest kind. Map theft in those days was a way to gain advantage over one's rivals. Examples of map thieves are Columbus, whose brother was a noted cartographer in Portugal (the leading sea power at the time) and Drake, who escaped the Spanish in the Caribbean by finding a map. Recommended with a 7/10

Re: what non-fiction books have you read? please rate it ... I have been reading more non fiction books lately and decided to share with my online friends. and no, I am not posting each review separately just to up my post count, I am posting each review separately to organize my thoughts, make it easier for people to read them, and to up my post count. First book is Long Shadows by Erna Paris. Subtitled: Truth, Lies, and History, This book is a study of what several nations remember/teach about their own history. Focusing mostly on events that happened in the 20th century, nations/people that are covered include: Germany, France, Japan, America, South Africa, Jewish people, and Serbia. The author does this by talking to the people that influenced opinions, along with some more 'normal' people. Many sides are shown, and while the author has a viewpoint, all sides are explored. The downside is that even though this is a pretty big book, I felt that each chapter could have been explored in its own book. Also, after reading this book, I wish that someone had written a book this accessible about other points in history. 9/10 (plus bonus points for getting the book from the sale table at one of the big box bookstores)

Re: what non-fiction books have you read? please rate it ... Just finished The Last Ridge by McKay Jenkins. The epic story of the u.s. army's 10th mountain division and the assault on hitler's europe. The first half of the book is about the struggle to form a mountain and ski troup, the struggle against the army bureaucracy to not turn the 10th into a regular infantry unit. For most of World War 2 the 10th trained and tested specialized equipment. Once they got to Italy, they did a superb job without any of the equipment. The other thing I learned was that 1) The army didn't want a ski/mountain unit and didn't know what to do with it. 2) Many of the soldiers who formed the unit were European and American Olympians. The book is better in the setup to the war, than the war itself, but it does a good job with what happened, especially to individual soldiers that the author introduced earlier. Rating 6/10 I am currently reading America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink by Kenneth M. Stampp. This book is a fascinating tale of one critical year in history. The author takes one issue at a time, devoting plenty of pages to each issue. Unlike a general history book, or a book about the run up to the Civil War, this author has plenty of pages to explore the subject. Just to add a quote ( because I felt it was interesting) So far I rate this book 8/10.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished Space War Blues by Richard A. Lupoff. (Although I did skip some of the latter chapters. Annoying things include: * too many storylines * using a futuristic version of a southern accent for what seems like entire chapters. * storylines startup, and some seem to vanish with out ending them (although because I skipped some, maybe I missed them) Interesting concepts: * Australian aboriginies are the only people that have radiation protection and therefore can sail outside the ships without bulky spacesuits. * Futuristic zombies. I rate this book 3 out of 10, mostly as I don't like the older fashion sci-fi. Currently I am rereading, A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer

Re: Who was the LAMEST? How bout US1, the exciting tales of a truckdriver.

Re: what non-fiction books have you read? please rate it ... Another book I have read recently is The World in 1800 by Olivier Bernier Easy to read, this book spans the globe. However because he only touches on key countries and only for the years that lead up to the events in 1800 and some of the ramifications of that year it avoids some of the problems of other history books. Every continent gets its moment of coverage and at least two countries/territories are covered. Besides the events of the year 1800 this book also explains how the society is structured, and its cultural life. One downside is that Africa gets the smallest chapter and a good chunk of that is what the Europeans and the Eurpeon colonies interacted with Africa. This book was certainly worth my time and money. Current non-fiction book I am reading The Great War: A Pictorial History of the 1914-1919 Fight for Freedom and Liberty by Thomas H. Russell published in 1919.

Based on that other thread, what non-fiction books have you read recently? The main reason for this thread is to inform our fellow herophiles on what non-fiction books are worth the time to read. The secondary reason for this thread is to increase my post count The first book I rate is Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist by William Maples A good book to learn what bones can tell about a person and what killed them. This is not a textbook however, it is a memoir of a forensic paleontologist (William Maples) and how he approaches the cases. As a history geek I especially enjoyed the last chapters where he discuses whether President Taylor was poisoned, the bones of the elephant man, identifying Pizarro, and identifying Czar Nicholas and his family. A warning be careful if eating while reading this book as some of the descriptions and pictures are disturbing. I rate this book as a good read especialy for those looking for an easy read in the subject of forensics.

Re: Cross-gender roleplaying I believe I played with someone who was inspired by the character Mighty Man (from Savage Dragon). The normal identity of the character was female, but her heroic identity was male.

While I can't help defining what the ranks mean, I did the following site world rank insignia This site provides titles and pictures of ranks of various militaries and law enforcement agencies If you select fictive and then movies & television one can see the ranks for the various star trek eras.

Due to a lack of money and owning an overabundance of books, I decided to reread my books, instead of borrowing books from the library. Last week, I read: Winning Colors Once a Hero Rules of Engagement Change of Command Against the Odds all by Elizabeth Moon and are part of the same series. (Although I skimmed over maybe half of the first two books.) Genre: Space Opera, I enjoyed the book, and like always, I teared up at the last scene. Yes I knew what was going to happen and it doesn't matter. A book that can suck me in emotionally. I found the books to be a nice mix of millitary society/action and civilian politics. Currently I am rereading Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams, and mourning that there will never be a third book in that series.

The year was 1988 or 1989. I was at college at Ohio State University. The gaming club met on Saturdays from 12 noon to whenever the union closed, usually around 12 midnight. Since AD&D was the only game I knew, I joined a group that was playing that game. I quickly got tired of AD&D especially the typical party of the paladin and the assassin working in the same party. Wondering around to the other groups I sat in with some gamers that were a bit older (mid to late 20s, early 30s) they were playing Champions at that time. I watched the game and eventually asked how to make a character and joined them. I designed a simple energy blaster. The GM ran an introductory scenario. I was guarding a jewelry store. One of the other PCs, Vector (a speedster) ran up, introduced himself, and I blew my recognition roll. To prove he was who he said he was, he phased his arm through the wall of the store I was guarding, so I arrested him. Later he tried juggling police cars. Needless to say, he was absent from the game for a while.

I have been following this discussion. As a participant in Ultimate CHS I am interested in what the opinion of those not participating in the UCHS group. I'm looking forward to the next part of our adventure.

For the campaign that I have run/plan to run, I wanted an area that I could totally control, without fear of being contradicted by a book or a player. So I looked at a map and after choosing and discarding several choices, I noticed an island. The island called the Isle d'Anticosti in the St Lawrance Seaway. A little edit of history, and I had the Federal city of Liberty.